King in waiting will take a strong team to Cheltenham

An exchange during which Gordon Elliott fleetingly veers away from the prescribed brief of outlining his horses’ Cheltenham Festival plans neatly illustrates the essence of a man who would be king.

Standing in one of the purpose-built barns on the Cullentra estate he has developed from a greenfield site, Elliott is asked how he feels about the prospect of the festival expanding further.

“I wasn’t even training when it was three days,” he notes of the 2005 extension. “You probably need to keep the quality but if it was seven days long, we’d have runners every day – I can guarantee you that much.