A Year Is A Long Time in Horse Racing
If you read the first post again here you'll see what I wanted to experience by joining the Gordon Elliott Racing Club - "I'm looking forward to seeing the horses in
training, seeing them race and hopefully getting in the winners enclosure a few
times". The Cullentra Stables Tour just before Cheltenham was one of
my highlights. I really wanted to see close hand how one of the most successful
trainers in the world operated. There were two tours in the year - one in
February and one in November. You get to meet the horses in their stables and
then see them out on the gallops. Also you might bump in to a three-in-a-row
Gold Cup winning trainer like Henrietta Knight. I really wanted to bring my son along but
thought I'd check it out the first time myself and bring him later on in the
year. Unfortunately, we couldn't get to the next one but he's been to the races
a few times with me.
I've counted 54 runners in races this year and I've probably been about 10 times. We had 4 trips to the winners enclosure (3 wins for Smiling Eliza and 1 for Scealai Aonair). I got to meet Gordon Elliott many times and watch him give the final instructions to Davy Russell and Jack Kennedy or a young jockey like Jack Warden, having his first ever race. Watching Smiling Eliza romp home at Down Royal and getting to experience what it feels like to be a winning owner is something I'll never forget and I already have the pictures of the day up on the wall at home. Taking my wife to The Curragh on a beautiful Friday summer evening to watch Eliza run on Irish Derby weekend was brilliant as well. There have been some lows too though. Bettatogether suffered a fatal fall and I watched Forrardon Xmoor being taken away in a horse ambulance at Downpatrick before being put down. I never even got to see Ring Ben because he died on the gallops without ever running for the club while Fairy Flute and Colonel Maximus just got fed up with the racing game.
Gordon Elliott has had an unbelievable year. He won 3 Grand Nationals, was top trainer at Cheltenham, had a winner at Ascot and led the trainers championship over Willie Mullins up to the final few days but suddenly went from over 500k up to over 500k down at the season finale Punchestown Festival and so the wait goes on for Gordon's ascension to the throne. This time last year everyone was talking about the new equine superstar Samcro but after being canonised at Cheltenham in the Ballymore, he fell at Punchestown, was beaten on season debut at Down Royal and was well beaten challenging the very underestimated Buveur D'Air in the Fighting Fifth. That race helped the racing world realise they already had an equine superstar in Nicky Hendersons charge. But like Gordon Elliott himself, you totally write Samcro off at your peril I'd say.
Probably Gordon's best day of the year was Tiger Roll winning him his second Grand National at Aintree. So maybe fitting that the last run of my year was Smiling Eliza in the listed race at Aintree also. She ran her heart out as ever and only just missed out on a place after contesting the lead for the majority of a race shown live on ITV Racing. A year earlier I first learned of racing clubs watching ITV Racing and now I was involved in a horse running live on the telly.
It's been a fantastic experience and good value for money with on average a runner every week. Tickets were available for about 90% of the races and the others would be in a ballot. I'd recommend the Gordon Elliott Racing Club to anyone who is interested in racing and has wondered about horse race ownership or even just wants tickets to the races that they have a horse running in. I'm sure I could have got to 30 or 40 meetings if I'd had the time. I've got to know a few of the other members as well. There are posts from Alex at the yard via the app at least a couple of times a week. It is very well run as you'd expect of anything associated with Gordon Elliott. I was delighted that a few of my posts from this blog made it onto the website too.
So that was my year in horse racing. Thank you for reading. I've learnt a huge amount this past 12 months and had a lot of fun. My love for the sport has increased ten fold and my appetite to get more involved has only been whetted.
I've counted 54 runners in races this year and I've probably been about 10 times. We had 4 trips to the winners enclosure (3 wins for Smiling Eliza and 1 for Scealai Aonair). I got to meet Gordon Elliott many times and watch him give the final instructions to Davy Russell and Jack Kennedy or a young jockey like Jack Warden, having his first ever race. Watching Smiling Eliza romp home at Down Royal and getting to experience what it feels like to be a winning owner is something I'll never forget and I already have the pictures of the day up on the wall at home. Taking my wife to The Curragh on a beautiful Friday summer evening to watch Eliza run on Irish Derby weekend was brilliant as well. There have been some lows too though. Bettatogether suffered a fatal fall and I watched Forrardon Xmoor being taken away in a horse ambulance at Downpatrick before being put down. I never even got to see Ring Ben because he died on the gallops without ever running for the club while Fairy Flute and Colonel Maximus just got fed up with the racing game.
Gordon Elliott has had an unbelievable year. He won 3 Grand Nationals, was top trainer at Cheltenham, had a winner at Ascot and led the trainers championship over Willie Mullins up to the final few days but suddenly went from over 500k up to over 500k down at the season finale Punchestown Festival and so the wait goes on for Gordon's ascension to the throne. This time last year everyone was talking about the new equine superstar Samcro but after being canonised at Cheltenham in the Ballymore, he fell at Punchestown, was beaten on season debut at Down Royal and was well beaten challenging the very underestimated Buveur D'Air in the Fighting Fifth. That race helped the racing world realise they already had an equine superstar in Nicky Hendersons charge. But like Gordon Elliott himself, you totally write Samcro off at your peril I'd say.
Probably Gordon's best day of the year was Tiger Roll winning him his second Grand National at Aintree. So maybe fitting that the last run of my year was Smiling Eliza in the listed race at Aintree also. She ran her heart out as ever and only just missed out on a place after contesting the lead for the majority of a race shown live on ITV Racing. A year earlier I first learned of racing clubs watching ITV Racing and now I was involved in a horse running live on the telly.
It's been a fantastic experience and good value for money with on average a runner every week. Tickets were available for about 90% of the races and the others would be in a ballot. I'd recommend the Gordon Elliott Racing Club to anyone who is interested in racing and has wondered about horse race ownership or even just wants tickets to the races that they have a horse running in. I'm sure I could have got to 30 or 40 meetings if I'd had the time. I've got to know a few of the other members as well. There are posts from Alex at the yard via the app at least a couple of times a week. It is very well run as you'd expect of anything associated with Gordon Elliott. I was delighted that a few of my posts from this blog made it onto the website too.
So that was my year in horse racing. Thank you for reading. I've learnt a huge amount this past 12 months and had a lot of fun. My love for the sport has increased ten fold and my appetite to get more involved has only been whetted.
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