Gordon Elliott will be bidding for a record-equalling fourth Grand National success this year.
Elliott burst onto the scene when Silver Birch triumphed in 2007, then many years later along came the superstar Tiger Roll who won in 2018 and 2019, becoming the first horse since Red Rum to win successive Grand Nationals.
The Cullentra House trainer could well have a quartet of runners lining up on Saturday April 5th.
This year’s Gordon Elliott runners in the biggest horse racing betting event of the season are as follows:
CONFLATED
With current form figures now resembling those of a random telephone number, it’s easy to forget just how decent a horse the Gigginstown-owned Conflated was at his absolute pomp.
An Irish Gold Cup hero in February 2022, he is now without a win since the Grade 1 Savills Chase at Leopardstown in December of that year.
He has struggled somewhat this season, but he did show a glimmer of his old self in the Festival Plate at Cheltenham last time, not beaten a million miles by Jagwar over the 2m4½f trip.
Conflated may well be an eleven-year-old veteran now but Neptune Collonges, Auroras Encore and Pineau De Re all obliged at that age so it is not beyond the realms of possibility to land the National in the twilight of your racing career.
Although it’s very hard to see him winning, he could well be one of those lively big outsiders that nicks a place.
COKO BEACH
With a not too dissimilar profile to his Gigginstown teammate comes Coko Beach. A year younger than Conflated, his most recent win was in a Cross Country race at Punchestown last February.
In a fairly uninspiring season, his best effort was an 18-length second to Vanillier in the same contest he landed last year, and we last saw him finishing ninth at the Festival to Stumptown.
Elliott admits the trip remains a worry and in a straight match with Conflated, you would certainly side with the latter in Grand National betting predictions.
FIL DOR
Running off a mark of 150 and owned by the Robcour powerhouse, Fils Dor is quite possibly Elliott’s best chance of collecting this year.
At just seven-years-old he’s a very young horse, but Noble Yeats bucked that poor record for that particular age trend when scoring in 2022.
A Listed winner over 2m6½f at Thurles in November, this son of Doctor Dino has been gathering up an impressive C.V, and if he can stay the trip then he could come into the reckoning.
Gordon Elliott recently told the Racing Post that Fil Dor ‘could run very well’ in the Aintree marathon.
THREE CARD BRAG
Several pundits and betting shrewdies are of the view that Elliott holds all the aces with the eight-year-old Three Card Brag, rather than with Fils Dor.
Winner of a 3m Beginners’ Chase at Navan in January, he then finished a commendable five-lengths third behind Better Days Ahead and Stellar Story in a Grade 2 William Hill Best Odds Guaranteed Novice Chase at the same venue in February.
That form has well and truly been stamped since when that duo filled the podium spots behind Lecky Watson at the Cheltenham Festival. All these factors bode well for Three Card Brag on Merseyside.
