From hitting the ground running with Silver Birch to rising to the pinnacle

Gordon Elliott had not even trained a winner in Ireland when he became a household name by winning the Grand National with Silver Birch at Aintree in 2007.

Two more Grand Nationals and 32 Cheltenham Festival successes later and Elliott’s Cullentra House stables, at Longwood, in County Meath, is a jumps powerhouse second only to that of Willie Mullins at the very pinnacle of the sport in Ireland.

The rise of Elliott, who turns 43 on Tuesday, is all the more remarkable as he does not come from a racing background.

The son of a panel-beater and housewife from Summerhill, Elliott initially fell in with Tony Martin’s local yard after leaving school in his mid teens.

Gordon Elliott admits 'shocking' photo is real and apologises

During his time as a successful amateur rider, he enjoyed a fruitful spell working for Martin Pipe, a close confidant in whose image Elliott fashioned himself as a trainer, focusing on getting the most out of every horse at his disposal and putting an emphasis on winners, in whatever shape or form he could mine them.

His biggest success in the saddle came when he partnered King’s Road to victory in the Champion Bumper at Punchestown in 1998 for Nigel Twiston-Davies, but it has been in the training ranks that he has made the most indelible impression.

His first winner back on home soil after Silver Birch’s Grand National was Toran Road at Kilbeggan in May of that year.

He first struck Cheltenham Festival gold as a trainer when Chicago Grey took the National Hunt Chase in 2011. Since then, 31 festival winners have followed, including the most coveted prize of them all, the Gold Cup, in 2016 with Don Cossack.

Gordon Elliott: celebrates after winning the Gold Cup in 2016Credit: Patrick McCann

Tiger Roll, a four-time Cheltenham Festival winner himself, provided Elliott with Grand National winner number two and three when winning back-to-back runnings of the Aintree showpiece in 2018 and 2019 in the colours of Gigginstown House Stud, who also owned Don Cossack.

Despite his success at Cheltenham and Aintree, Elliott has never been crowned champion trainer in Ireland, although he was only narrowly thwarted by a resurgent Mullins at the Punchestown festival in 2017.

In all, he has been second to Mullins eight times in the championship, a testament to the manner in which he has created one of the sport’s modern powerhouses without the benefit of any background in the game, attracting many of racing's most influential owners, most notably earning unstinting support from Ryanair supremo Michael O’Leary via his Gigginstown House Stud banner and more recently attracting the Thompson family’s Cheveley Park Stud, who on Tuesday announced they would be moving their horses to Henry de Bromhead and Willie Mullins.

Elliott has been crowned leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival on two occasions, securing it for a first time in 2017 and repeating the feat in 2018 when he ended the meeting with eight winners.

Notable successes on home soil include a breakthrough Irish Grand National triumph with General Principle in 2018, a Punchestown Gold Cup victory with Don Cossack and Savills Chase and Irish Gold Cup wins with Delta Work.

Key developments on this story:

Gordon Elliott: 'I will spend my life paying for indefensible moment of madness'

Gordon Elliott barred from having runners in Britain while image inquiry goes on

Leading owners Gigginstown stand by Gordon Elliott after 'unacceptable' photo

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