Ambitious Elliott out to overtake idol Pipe and has set his sights on multiple winners

Gordon Elliott needs just one winner at next week's Cheltenham Festival to overtake his life-long idol Martin Pipe on the roll of honour, but the ambitious trainer has set himself a target of five.

Both Elliott and Pipe have 34 festival winners to their name, which sees them sitting joint-fifth in the table, and the trainer responsible for the warm favourite in the Turners Novices' Chase and Brown Advisory is hoping he can surpass the legend next week.

You can read what the tension is like at a big stable with umpteen Cheltenham chances the week before the big event in a special feature in Sunday's newspaper, in which Elliott reveals that five is the magic number for him at the festival.

He was leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival for back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018 with six and eight winners respectively and he believes the bar has been set so high at Cullentra now that three, four or five winners needs to be the aim.

Gordon Elliott: leading trainer at the Cheltenham Festival for back-to-back years in 2017 and 2018Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Elliott said: "I love Cheltenham, absolutely love it. I can't wait. Look, at the standard we're at now, if you don't come home with four or five winners you're probably a bit disappointed. I know that mighn't happen, but that's the bar we have raised for ourselves here. That is the level we want to be at.

"I know what Cheltenham is like and I know how hard winners are to get over there so if we only get one winner I'll still enjoy that winner no matter what."

On the prospect of passing out his mentor Pipe, Elliott said: "I didn't realise until somebody told me the other day that I was joint-fifth in the all-time list of trainers at the Cheltenham Festival and Martin Pipe is joint-fifth with me. So I'm looking forward to telling him that I've passed him someday, hopefully next week!"

Read more from Gordon Elliott in The Big Read, available in Sunday's newspaper or online for Members' Club Ultimate subscribers from 6pm on Saturday. Click here to sign up.

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