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Gordon Elliott (file pic). PA

Gordon Elliott looking to Delta to deliver fourth Grand National success

County Meath handler fields six at Aintree as he tries to equal record.

GORDON ELLIOTT IS sweet on Delta Work as he goes in search of a joint-record fourth victory in Randox Grand National on Saturday.

The master of Cullentra was a fresh-faced and relatively unknown 29-year-old when first claiming the world’s most famous steeplechase with Silver Birch in 2007. But he is now very much established as one of National Hunt racing’s elite trainers.

Elliott has fond memories of that day 16 years ago, but does not believe Silver Birch’s triumph was a major factor in his meteoric rise through the ranks.

“I didn’t get one horse out of training Silver Birch. I got my name out after that, but I had to prove I could go and train winners,” he said.

“We trained an awful of mid-range winners in the north of England after Silver Birch and that is what really got us going. That got a lot of owners on board to get us in a great position.”

Elliott was a household name by the time his second National winner came around, with the hugely-popular Tiger Roll striking gold in 2018.

Also a five-time winner at the Cheltenham Festival, the Gigginstown House Stud-owned gelding became an Aintree legend by making it back-to-back victories in 2019.

Those triumphs have put Elliott on the verge of joining George Dockeray, Fred Rimell and Red Rum’s trainer Ginger McCain as a four-time winner.

Elliott added: “The Grand National has been a special race to me and I have won it three times. Obviously, I would love to win it again. Hopefully, I have at least another 20 or 30 years of my training career left, so hopefully it will happen at some stage.

“I rode around Aintree a few times and broke my arm the last time I rode there on a horse called Sheltering for Edward O’Grady (in the 2003 Fox Hunters’ Chase).

“I didn’t have much luck there as a rider, but I was just an ordinary amateur and enjoyed it. I like training a lot more.”

The shortest-priced of Elliott’s six-strong team is Delta Work, who denied Tiger Roll the fairytale ending to his career in the cross-country chase at last year’s Cheltenham Festival before finishing third in the Grand National.

The 10-year-old successfully defended his crown at Cheltenham last month and Elliott is confident he will be in the thick of the action again on his return to Aintree.

He said: “If I had to pick a horse to ride this year, it would be Delta Work. He got a little bit far back early last year, but ran a very good race.

“He was a bit careful, but he is in great form now and we couldn’t be happier with him.”

Elliott’s second string appears to be Galvin, who was runner-up to Delta Work at Cheltenham just over four weeks ago and will be ridden by Davy Russell, who steered Tiger Roll to his two National wins.

Russell came out of retirement to stand in for the sidelined Jack Kennedy earlier in the season and it would be a fitting end to his riding career if he can go out on a blaze of glory.

Elliott, who also runs Dunboyne (Jack Tudor), Fury Road (Jonjo O’Neill Jnr), Coko Beach (Harry Cobden) and Escaria Ten (Adrian Heskin), added: “With Galvin, the drier the ground, the better chance he has.

“He will have come on a lot from Cheltenham and is in good form. We are very, very happy with him.”

The horse bidding to emulate Tiger Roll by securing back-to-back Grand National wins is the Emmet Mullins-trained Noble Yeats.

The eight-year-old gave distinguished amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen the perfect send-off last year, returning to Aintree to win the Many Clouds Chase in December before finishing third and fourth in the Cotswold Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup respectively.

Mullins is hoping Sean Bowen can repeat Waley-Cohen’s tactics from 12 months ago, saying: “He was last over the first last time. He wasn’t in contention for the first two miles, but it all worked out in his favour.

“There’s no rule of thumb for it, it’s just getting the horse happy and confident in a bit of space and running into the gaps. It’ll probably have to be the brave man’s route to get that space. He negotiated it last year and fingers crossed he can do it again.

“I think he’s getting a bit wiser every time and looking after himself a bit more. He’s just holding a bit back for himself, but hopefully we can get it out of him.

“Just a bit of space is ideal for him, it’s going to be hard in a National with 40 runners but I suppose I’ll just keep telling Sean to go back and look at Sam’s ride last year.”

In a market otherwise dominated by the Irish, the clear outlier is Lucinda Russell’s Corach Rambler.

It is six years since Russell’s One For Arthur became only the second Scottish-trained winner of the Aintree showpiece, after Rubstic in 1979, and there is no doubt her latest contender has a lot going for him.

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    Mute Locojoe
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    Dec 6th 2018, 7:59 AM

    Munster are looking good.!.

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    Mute Batster
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    Dec 7th 2018, 7:38 PM

    @Locojoe: They really are starting to look very good. I’d expect a but win and five points and would fancy them to run Castres close in France.

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    Mute DeShawn Jersey
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    Dec 6th 2018, 10:06 AM

    I see Joey is trying out the new invisible skipping rope. They have it all down in Munster.

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    Mute Con Cussed
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    Dec 6th 2018, 12:13 PM

    @DeShawn Jersey:

    Carbery, “Gee whizz I’m going to be playing next to Conor Murray”
    Murray, “Here we go again”

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    Mute Jim Demps
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    Dec 6th 2018, 9:10 AM

    Should be a pretty strong team picked today. Barring injury at 15 the only number I’m not sure of is 12. He could go with scannell or blyendaal there with the other covering the bench. Looking forward to seeing carbery in the middle of Murray and Farrell. Also looking forward to seeing loughman and what he can do in a big game against a good side. I’d expect a munster win by about 10 points I think.

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    Mute Darren Byrne
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    Dec 6th 2018, 9:35 AM

    @Jim Demps: Loughman is a good losehead he just wasn’t going to make it as a tighthead. He was right to leave, now with Cronin being injured he has a real chance to progress his career. Just hope he doesn’t end up going to the world cup with the US as that would rule him out long term for Munster.

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    Mute Johnny 5
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    Dec 6th 2018, 9:35 AM

    @Jim Demps: Scannell starts. He might not be that highly rated, but in the last 3/4 years he has made that 12 jersey his own under successive coaches.

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    Mute Jim Demps
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    Dec 6th 2018, 10:32 AM

    @Darren Byrne: I dont think loughman will be lining out for the states. He must be firmly on the radar of the Irish management for the future given that Healy, McGrath, kilcoyne and cronin are all in and around the same age and around the 30 mark now

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    Mute Gibson O Driscoll
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    Dec 6th 2018, 11:56 PM

    @Jim Demps: guessing Blyendaal on bench to cover 12, Scannell to start( left foot), team kinda picks itself after that. Butterflies starting, can see Murray Carbery axis being what has been missing. Leinster have Jonnie, but Conor and Joey trump even him. 3 more sleeps.

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    Mute Paul O'Connor
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    Dec 6th 2018, 8:32 PM

    There’s a Heineken cup or two in this young and developing squad.

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    Mute Bungee Aky
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    Dec 7th 2018, 12:01 AM

    @Paul O’Connor: naw, nobody is going to beat Leinster this side of the World Cup in France.

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    Mute retsnuM
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    Dec 6th 2018, 9:07 AM

    2nd row selection will be interesting in the absence of Jean Kleyn.

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    Mute Johnny 5
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    Dec 6th 2018, 9:33 AM

    @retsnuM: Surely Holland comes in and Wycherley takes the bench spot, as he seems to have jumped O’Shea in the pecking. In terms of locks we are a little light. DOC2 could cover but he is injured, maybe POM can cover in a crisis. Definitely an area we need more depth.

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    Mute Niall Collins
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    Dec 6th 2018, 10:23 AM

    @Johnny 5: well there is a certain Tipperary man out of contract in Paris this summer…

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    Mute Glenbower
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    Dec 6th 2018, 10:51 AM

    @Johnny 5: I agree re Holland and Wycherley but I seem to remember that O’Shea looked good recently – including in the heavy going in Zebre, I think. I really hope that he develops into Munster’s Devin Toner – he’s only an inch shorter that Dev, is still only 25 (26 next week) and has good players and coaches to learn from. Maybe uber-tall players take a bit longer to develop. As we know, 6-9 / 6-10 comfort blankets are very handy in the line-out for provinces and Ireland.

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    Mute Johnny 5
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    Dec 6th 2018, 11:39 AM

    @Glenbower: I don’t doubt it’s possible and he has all the physical attibutes required, but he is back 2 years and looks like he is moving backwards in the pecking order. It’s not like lock is very competitive spot for Munster at the moment. He is competing with Holland (33 and without the physical attibutes to be top level lock) and Wycherley (only 20), O’Shea should really be pushing on and playing games if he is going to make it.

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    Mute Johnny 5
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    Dec 6th 2018, 11:48 AM

    @Niall Collins: that would be great, but considering we couldn’t afford to keep him 2 years ago, and he has spent the last 2 years tearing up trees in Paris it’s hard to imagine him coming back. Plus the carrot of playing for Ireland at the RWC isn’t even guaranteed if he returned with the emergence of James Ryan and Beirne since he left

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    Mute Gibson O Driscoll
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    Dec 6th 2018, 11:59 PM

    @retsnuM: Big Billy & Tadgh

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    Mute Simon Clarke
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    Dec 6th 2018, 1:40 PM

    Looking forward to this pairing. Suspect Cooney – Carbery might make for a fine combination as well though.

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