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Gordon Elliott: Trains the great Tiger Roll

Gordon Elliott Q&A with Ed Chamberlin following Betfair Tiger Roll documentary

By Ed Chamberlin

Horse Racing

Sun April 05, 2020 · 5y ago

To mark Betfair's release of 'Tiger Roll - Horse Of A Lifetime', Ed Chamberlin chats to Gordon Elliott about the great horse, Cheltenham and much more.

How are you getting on these difficult times, both you and the stable?

"We obviously have a lot of horses going home and it’s a tough time for staff and everyone. Sadly we’ve had to lay a few off but we’re doing everything we can and we have a tough few weeks’ coming up before finding out where we’re going."

It must be so tough for you and the team?

"I’ve tried to keep as many as I can, all the full-time staff we’re keeping but we’re just having to pause some of the part-time staff. You have to be careful with your cash flow, it’s tough, but hopefully everyone will be back and we’ll all return to normal as soon as we can."

How would you describe your 2019/2020 campaign?

"I was having a great season. We had 184 winners between Ireland and England, nine Grade One winners, seven at the Cheltenham Festival, and we still had Aintree, Fairyhouse and Punchestown to come. But you have to look at the bigger picture and hope that everyone is going to be ok and clearly racing can sit on the back-burner for the time being."

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Let's talk Cheltenham now. Even before the Ballymore Ruby Walsh said if there was one horse he could take back with him from the meeting it was Envoi Allen. There was huge pressure on you going into that but that was some performance. What did you make of it?

"I don’t really do pressure, I pretty much take everything in my stride, but he’s the one horse all week I was feeling it about. He’s a very, very good horse and we’re lucky to have him. Thankfully he showed just how good he was."

Were you ever worried at any stage of that race?

"For about two strides when they turned in my jaw did drop a little, I thought we were in trouble, but he picked up in a matter of strides and away he was gone."

Gordon Elliott leads the Envoi Allen celebrations

Is chasing the plan now?

"Yes it is. All being well he’ll start off in a beginners’ chase at Down Royal next season."

How good could he be? Potentially the best of the lot?

"I’ve made that mistake before and labelled horses the 'best I’ve trained'. He’s very good but we’ll let him do the talking and as long as he keeps winning then we’re happy."

Samcro and Melon duel at Cheltenham

The horses you’ve said that about were Don Cossack and Samcro and to see the latter come back and win the Marsh was brilliant. Just how satisfying was it to for you?

"I probably got as big a kick out of him winning than any of the seven. He’s a horse who hasn’t been easy to train and has had his fair share of problems but he’s a very, very good horse. The race itself, with three horses, Melon, Faugheen and Samcro, going to the second last and last as one was fantastic. All three are champions in their own right. I was excited and to be watching it from the outside it must have been some spectacle too."

You must have been delighted with how the meeting went as a whole?

"Yes, it was brilliant, seven winners, seven seconds and we were beaten on count-back to the top trainer award. We were probably a bit unlucky as Column Of Fire fell at the last in the Martin Pipe when he looked like he might go on and win. I love training my horses to go there and having winners at the meeting. Over the last ten years we’ve had 32 winners at the Festival but while it was tremendous again, what’s happening elsewhere put it into perspective."

BETFAIR PRESENTS | Tiger Roll: Horse of a Lifetime | FULL DOCUMENTARY

Let’s talk Tiger Roll. I’ve watched the Betfair documentary three or four times, it’s absolutely brilliant. Is your journey with this horse the most enjoyable of your career so far?

"He hasn’t been the easiest and he had a couple of disappointing spells but to have won at four Cheltenham Festivals and two Randox Health Grand Nationals is amazing. You don’t realise when you’re in the bubble with him all the time, what he means to the people outside it. The documentary is wonderful, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up watching it.

"We were supposed to go last Tuesday or Wednesday night to a cinema to watch it, Betfair were organising it, and it’s a pity that didn’t happen as it would have been exciting to see it together. When you look at it and the see the texts and tweets we've received after it launched, it reminds you how lucky we are to have him. He genuinely is a horse of lifetime."

You mentioned his time in the wilderness. What was the secret of bringing him back to the boil?

"We just changed a few things, some procedures on his back. We trained him out of different stables, he went out and did a bit of hunting, we just tried changing things. I suppose the two things we learned were that good ground was a massive help to him when he got older, often horses want it slower when they are older but he was the opposite. And the hunting and cross-country races really lit him up. It doesn’t work with every horse but it definitely did with him."

Tiger Roll fends off Pleasant Company in 2018

You went to Aintree in 2018 and people were saying ‘he’s too small and won’t take to the fences’. What were your confidence levels like?

"After winning at Cheltenham I thought he was well-in if he took to the fences. We brought him up to the Curragh and he jumped six or eight Aintree-style fences. I wouldn’t say he was brilliant at them but he was accurate and low. My worry was would he have enough respect for them during the race? Thankfully he measured them perfectly all the way."

It was a race in which you had few worries until the run-in – I bet you had your heart-in-your-mouth a bit then?

"The last 50 yards was probably the longest 50 yards of my life. When they flashed past the post I thought we’d won but until you hear it called out you’re never 100% sure."

How did that moment compare to the one when Silver Birch won you the race back in 2007?

"I didn’t really appreciate it the first time with Silver Birch. I was excited to have a runner and it was great craic and we enjoyed it but we appreciated Tiger Roll the first year more.

"We were able to take it all in. You know how hard it is to get a horse to the race, all the problems and setbacks they can have. I probably enjoyed the whole race the second year more. I could sit back and enjoy, I knew he was running well and wasn’t going to disgrace himself. Then we got five out, four out, three out and saw how he was travelling it looked more and more like it was going to happen."

Silver Birch returns in triumph at Aintree

Was he in the form of his life that day?

"Yes he was absolutely singing at the time. The preparation he had that year was as good as you can have, he won the Boyne and the Glenfarclas at Cheltenham. The ground was right for him all season, it went as well as it ever could. We were going back for three-in-a-row this time and it wasn’t quite the same."

The celebrations afterwards last year were wonderful. Did that show what he means to the team?

"Michael O’Leary, Anita and the kids get a real kick out of this horse. It’s what they’re in the game for, why he invests so much money, it’s unbelievable."

Did you fancy your chances going into this year’s race?

"All you had to do was look at Cheltenham. The ground wasn’t ideal for him and he finished very, very tired after the last. However, over the last couple of weeks the horse has been in great form, jumping out of his skin, and we’ve been very happy.

"If I was going there this weekend with the ground drying out I’d have been confident he’d run a big race. If I was to tell you I was confident he was going to win three in a row I’d be telling you a lie but if he jumped round, came home in one piece and ran a good race I’d have been thrilled."

Tiger Roll gives chase to Easyland at Cheltenham

Are you conscious of just how popular this horse is?

"When you look at the documentary and the reaction to it, it makes you realise just how popular he is. It’s a shame it’s not on this year because the hype around him would have been unbelievable but we’ve got next year to aim at now. We’re going to train him around the National again."

How tough a task will it be to win a National at the age of 11 after all he’s done?

"He’s not going to have done many miles between now and then. I’d imagine it’ll be Boyne Hurdle, cross-country at Cheltenham and then the National. He’s going to have three or four runs tops. He hasn’t been over-raced in recent seasons and if we can get him there fit, healthy and the ground is good, he’ll have a great chance again. The ground is key to him. Look at Cheltenham. He ran his heart out, tried his heart out, but the ground just killed him. He isn’t as good on that soft ground."

After the documentary have any Hollywood directors been in touch?

"No not for me. Nothing as yet anyway, maybe a few of the others though!"