Gordon Elliott’s best chance at success on day four of the Cheltenham Festival
While most National Hunt racing fans and pundits believe the Cheltenham Festival’s Leading Trainer award is Willie Mullins’ to lose, there are a handful of incredibly successful trainers who you would be foolish to write off.
One of those is Gordon Elliott – who enters this year’s Festival as the second favourite at 7/1 to take home his third top trainer gong at the Cotswolds meeting. The 34-time Cheltenham winner will once again have a strong team on hand with him at Prestbury Park, and if some results go his way early on in the meet, Elliott’s tilt at the Leading Trainer award could depend on how he fares on the final day of the Festival.
With that in mind, read on as we take a look at Elliott’s thoroughbreds who provide him with the best chance at success on day four at Cheltenham.
Three Card Brag
Entering as the third favourite in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at 15/2, Three Card Brag has been consistent since making his debut in March of last year. He has reigned supreme in three of his five starts to date, with his run at Fairyhouse last time out particularly turning heads. The six-year-old would go on to win that contest by an emphatic 12 lengths, showing solid finishing speed up the straight to streak away from the chasing pack.
Conflated
In what is the feature race of the Festival – the Gold Cup – Elliott will be hoping his nine-year-old Conflated can display a similar performance to that of last year’s Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown. In that fixture, the Irish horse finished over the top of an exceptionally talented field that included the likes of former Cheltenham Gold Cup champion Minella Indo and former Irish Gold Cup victor Kemboy.
Additionally, Elliott will have taken plenty of confident from Conflated’s most recent outing in the Savills Chase in December – in which he cruised to victory by five lengths. For those interested in placing a bet on Conflated to take home the spoils in 2023’s renewal of the Gold Cup at Prestbury Park, he is paying 14/1 in the Cheltenham day 4 antepost odds at the time of writing – which is good for seventh favourite.
Despite the fact there are number of horses who are better-fancied in the betting lines at this stage, given Conflated’s big-race experience and strong performances at prestigious meetings – he is certainly not a horse you should be writing off.
Imagine
A 6/1 shot in the Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, five-year-old Imagine currently sits as the second favourite to take out the class 2 affair – behind only that of Spanish Harlem who is garnering a price of 11/2.
The French-bred horse has been largely consistent since debuting in February 2022, winning his first two outings before securing a hattrick of second-place results at Navan and Gowran Park respectively.
While Elliott would have obviously preferred Imagine entering the final race of the Festival with more than just one win from four starts this season – he will still be pleased that his thoroughbred has always been there or thereabouts towards the end, whether it be in a win or a loss. Therefore, he definitely has more than enough to cause what would be a minor upset.
