Elliott in Clover After Another Stellar Weekend

Leading Irish trainer Gordon Elliott continued his stellar run of recent form with six winners at Navan and Cork over the weekend.

Elliott kicked things off by hitting the top horse racing betting sites in Ireland hard in the Mervyn Gray Construction Maiden Hurdle at Navan.

His Jigoro made most of the running under jockey Jack Kennedy, before staying on strongly in testing conditions to finish nine lengths ahead of Tom Cooper’s Butcher Hollow.

The horse went off the 5/2 join second favourite for the race and had little difficulty justifying the support to leave Elliott thinking about loftier targets.

“It was a good performance and we knew he had improved plenty from the first day,” Elliott said.

“Obviously there was a lot of talk about Tom Cooper’s horse and I thought it was a good performance.

“Jack was delighted with him and said he’ll stay further. He said a faster gallop would have suited him but he was very happy with the run. He could go for the four-year-old hurdle at Limerick over Christmas.”

Caldwell Potter provided Elliott with another comfortable victory in the Headfort Arms Hotel Maiden Hurdle, with the horse finishing seven lengths clear of his rivals.

Elliott completed a hat-trick with Embittered in the Listed Foxrock Handicap Chase, before My Trump Card brought up the four-timer in the Timeless Sash Windows INH Flat Race.

“He’s a lovely big galloping horse, a smashing horse, and he’s a horse for the future,” Elliott said about his fourth winner.

“He’ll go jumping now. He improved plenty from the last day, in fairness, so we’re delighted.

“It looked like a winnable race. We had another horse to run but he didn’t work as well as I thought he would the other day. He could maybe run again over hurdles at Christmas.”

Elliott was back amongst the winners at Cork on Sunday as his No Time To Wait claimed victory under Kennedy in the Bar One Racing ‘Guaranteed Multiples All Shops’ Maiden Hurdle.

The combination quickly added another to their tally in the Supervalu Stayers Novice Hurdle as Search For Glory produced a gritty display to justify odds of 7/4.

The horse was slightly disappointing when finishing third at Navan during November, but appeared to relish the step up three miles on this occasion.

“He stays well, jumped and travelled great and is a progressive horse,” Kennedy said. “He is a staying horse and hopefully he keeps going the right way now.

The victory was Kennedy’s third of the day having triumphed in the opening three-year-old maiden hurdle aboard Joseph O’Brien’s Harsh.

The horse finished third behind Elliott’s Mighty Bandit on his jumping debut at Punchestown and had little difficulty stepping up on that performance on his second outing.

Harsh’s jumping was not too accurate during the early part of the race, but he eventually got to grips with the task at hand before easing clear to win by eight lengths.

With Mighty Bandit touted as a potential Cheltenham Festival contender the form looks strong and Harsh could be one to follow as the season progresses.

“His last jump was his best and it took him a while to warm into it,” Kennedy added. “Some horses don’t really take to those rubber hurdles but he is a nice horse.

“He is learning away the whole time and it was probably a good race he finished third in at Punchestown. It was nice to get today done.”