Trainer of the Quarter GORDON ELLIOTT The TRM Trainer of the Quarter award has been won by Gordon Elliott. Elliott and his team will receive a selection of products from the internationallyacclaimed range of TRM supplements, as well as a bottle of fine Irish whiskey. WORDS: OSCAR YEADON PHOTOS: CAROLINE NORRIS I T has been nearly 10 years since Gordon Elliott saddled Silver Birch to win the Aintree Grand National, at just 29 years of age and only 12 months after taking out his trainer's licence. Such a highprofi le result naturally marked him out as a trainer to note for the future, but few could have predicted the extent of Elliott's success to date. Now a familiar fi gure in the winner's enclosure at the major National Hunt festivals and meetings in Ireland and Britain, Elliott enjoyed a red-letter day last March when Don Cossack won the Cheltenham Gold Cup. However, triumph in blue riband events doesn't always refl ect the true breadth of a trainer's ability, and Elliott underlined his skill in maintaining a high level of performance across his string when they won six of the seven races at their local track, Navan Racecourse, on Sunday, 27 November. Brelade may have been the shortest-priced of Elliott's fi ve representatives in the 30-strong fi eld for the opening race, a twomile maiden hurdle, but the paper form suggested he had something to fi nd with the favourite. However, a gritty and improving effort at the close saw Brelade prevail by a neck and register Elliott's fi rst winner of the afternoon. Like Brelade, Elliott's Death Duty stepped up on previous performances to win his race, the Grade 3 Monksfi eld Hurdle, to make it two from two over hurdles. Stablemate Bull Ride obliged in the third race, improving on the form shown when he won a Wexford maiden hurdle four weeks earlier, and fi nished a nose ahead of his stablemate Dawerann. While the straightforward victory of Willie Mullins' Min (a runner-up Call for same day dispatch: 01730 815 800 Order onlin
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