As is always the case, Willie Mullins’ horses will be the most hyped at the Cheltenham Festival, but Gordon Elliott, who has had a quiet few years by his standards, is not a trainer to forget about.
Alongside Mullins, Elliott is the trainer with the most winners at a single festival, while he’s trained 29 Cheltenham Festival winners since 2017.
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Unlike Willie, though, who often wins with short-priced, highly fancied horses, Elliott has a habit of popping up with a longshot.
Last season, he saddled three winners, two of which returned at 18/1 and 33/1. He also had several horses placed, including runners at odds of 16/1, 40/1, 66/1 and 125/1.
In 2022, Elliott wasn’t prolific in terms of winner, seeing only two of his horses come home in front, but one of those winners paid huge odds of 50/1.
Back in 2018, when Elliott trained eight winners, he had Veneer Of Charm at odds of 33/1, Blow By Blow win at 11/1, and Farclas win at 9/1. Sure, at the festival 9/1 and 11/1 winners aren’t the biggest you’ll see, but they’re certainly not shorties.
The bottom line is, don’t ignore Elliott’s big priced runners at the upcoming festival.
It would be a huge surprise if he came away without at least a few winners, and if recent history is anything to go by, at least one of those is likely to come home at big odds.