Gordon Elliott Stable Tour 2024/25 - Key quotes from leading Irish trainer

We strongly considered sending her novice chasing, but the decision is made, and she’ll stay hurdling. She’ll start back in the Jezki Hurdle at Down Royal on November 1st. She looks to be an obvious candidate for the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in the longer term. We’ve never hidden how highly we regard her, and we can’t wait to get her back on the track. We think the world of her.

He’s being aimed at the Skymas Chase at Down Royal on November 2nd. At the minute he looks like a horse that might have a preference for a mid-range trip when he goes into open company, so we’ll try to keep him around those trips as best we can. Though one thing I’d say is that he is settling better at home this season than he used to, so it wouldn’t be out of the question that we try him over longer trips at some point.

All being well he’ll go the same route as he did last season. He showed himself to be a top-class chaser when he finished a very good second in the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival and it makes sense to try and get him back there again.

We took a view on what sort of campaign would suit him best last season and it worked out well, so we’ll do the same again this season. He’ll start in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle and then be kept fresh for the Stayers’ Hurdle. He’s still only a seven-year-old and if we can keep him right, he could be on top of this division for a few years yet.

He did it well at Fairyhouse on his hurdling debut and I’d say he’ll be one for one of the Grade 3 novice hurdles at Navan in mid-November. I might have been running him on ground that was too testing for him last season as he seemed to enjoy the sounder surface at Fairyhouse. He looks a stronger horse this season.

He was a very good horse in bumpers last season and will go novice hurdling this season. I’d say he’ll be one that will step up in trip as the season goes on. He pulled a muscle early in his prep, so he might not start off until around Christmas time. He could be very good.

He won a point-to-point and a bumper last season, and we thought that was enough for him, so we pulled up early with him and sent him on a break. He’s going to go novice hurdling this season and I’d say he’ll start off in an auction maiden hurdle at Galway on Saturday.

We liked him a lot as a bumper horse last season, and he finished second in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival. He’s going novice hurdling and could start off in a maiden hurdle at Down Royal. He looks a lot stronger this season and his schooling over hurdles has been very good. At the minute, I see him as a two-miler.

He won both his starts in bumpers last season, but he isn’t a flashy worker at home, so it’s hard to know what he is. He’ll go novice hurdling and will probably start at a mid-range trip in the next couple of weeks.

He looked very nice when he won his point-to-point. He’s a big horse and we have given him plenty of time. We’re going to go straight over hurdles with him and he’ll be ready to start off in a couple of weeks, we just want some rain for him. Two-and-a-half miles might be his trip. Everything we ask him to do, he does very easily, so he’s one we’re looking forward to seeing on the track.

He’s going to go novice hurdling and could start off over two-and-three-quarter miles at Down Royal. I’d say he’d have no trouble running over shorter than that. He’d be well able to compete on the Flat if we asked him to.

He could be a very good horse. He was very free last season, but he’s a lot more settled at home this season. He has been schooling well over hurdles and while he has an option of a winners-of-two bumper at Down Royal, I think I’ll go straight over hurdles with him. If he relaxes as well on the track as he has been at home this season, he should stay mid-range trips.

She had a little setback before the Cheltenham Festival last season, but is back and in good order now. We might start her back over hurdles in early-December. I think she could be quite well handicapped, and we’ll pick our spots with her. She could run back on the Flat too.

He won at the Cheltenham Festival and ran well at the Punchestown Festival after that last season. I’d imagine he’ll go novice chasing. His schooling over fences has been good. We’ll start him off over a mid-range distance in the next few weeks.

He is going novice chasing this season. We were disappointed with him in the second half of last season, but he looks a much stronger horse this season and he’s always looked like a big chaser in the making. He stays well and will soon be up to three miles.

He’s going to go novice chasing. He’ll start off at Down Royal or Navan in the next few weeks. We didn’t get a full campaign out of him last season, but it was just niggling things that were the issue, nothing serious.

He’s ready to run and is going novice chasing. We’ll start him off over two miles and feel our way from there. He showed some smart form in novice hurdles last season and can hopefully be just as good over fences.

Novice chasing is the plan, and he could be very good. The plan is to start him off in a maiden chase at Down Royal. He has always looked like a chaser in terms of his physique, and I’d say he’ll be a real two-miler. The way he has been schooling over fences is exciting us and he could be very good.

He’s a big staying chaser and is a nice horse to go novice chasing with this season. Mind, I could see him being more so one for staying handicap chases rather than winning Graded novice chases, but sure we’ll give him his chance and see where he ends up.

He’s a lovely staying chaser in the making and that’s the route he’ll go this season. He might be one for staying handicap chases rather than winning Graded novice chases, but we’ll get him going and see where he ends up. He could start off at Galway this weekend if the ground is soft enough for him.

He disappointed us in the second half of last season, and he’s had a kissing spine surgery over the summer that will hopefully help get him back on the right track. He’s going to go novice chasing and I could see him ending up over three miles.

He's in good form and going to go novice chasing. I'd say the further he goes, the better he'll be.

He’s going to be tricky to place this season. He’ll probably run in the Grade 1 at Down Royal, but we’ll probably drop him in class after that to give him the best chance of winning and he’ll probably run in cross-country or banks races too. He’s one that’s going to be impacted by the changing of the cross-country race at the Cheltenham Festival to a handicap, but sure look, we’ll see how it plays out, there’s a chance that the classier horses will still be tough to beat giving the weight away.

He’s been a brilliant horse and has back in looking fantastic. We will be looking at the cross-country chase at the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National for him again. We might mix it up with him and give him a couple of runs over hurdles to keep him sweet.

He ran great to finish a close second in the American Grand National last weekend. The ground got quick, and he was on his head the whole way, but he ran huge. From here we’ll be working back from the Grand National.

She just keeps winning! She runs in a mares’ chase at Clonmel on Thursday. She might not want winter heavy ground, so she’ll probably get a break when the ground gets testing.

He’s still a maiden over fences, so we’ll start him in a maiden chase and hopefully he should be able to make use of the experience he gained over fences last season. He could be one for a big handicap chase later in the season.

He looks like he’ll be a very nice bumper horse this season. He’s going to work at Navan on Thursday morning and that will tell us where we are with him, but I’d say we’ll be looking to start him off in the next few weeks. He’ll stay in bumpers this season.

He’s a lovely horse that won a point-to-point at Loughanmore. We’ll keep him to bumpers this season and he is one we are looking forward to.