Gordon Elliott set to field biggest Cheltenham Festival team in title defence

Gordon Elliott expects to have at least 50 runners – his biggest team – at the Cheltenham Festival as he attempts to defend the leading trainers' title he has won for the last two seasons.

He has saddled 22 winners at the festival, 14 of those being achieved in the last two years, underlining the enormous strides he has made since Chicago Grey gave him his first festival victory in the 2011 National Hunt Chase.

Cheltenham means the world to Elliott, who is closing in on his 41st birthday, and, although he says it will be hard to beat his tally of eight winners last year, he believes his 2019 team is high on quality as well as numbers.

“We have a really nice team of horses going to the festival," he said. "Most of them have their serious work done and we’ll just be keeping them ticking over for the next couple of weeks.

“Cheltenham is the meeting where all trainers want to do well. You can train plenty of winners at Aintree or Punchestown, but it’s how you do at the Cheltenham Festival that people remember.

“We’ve been very lucky there in recent years. It’s very hard to see us bettering last year's score, but we'll be going there with plenty of chances. We'll have a better idea of how many we'll run when the handicaps are published, but I'd imagine it'll be in the region of 50."

Tiger Roll: landed last year's cross-country race at the festival and is on course to attempt a repeatCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

The remarkable Tiger Roll has been the biggest contributor to Elliott's festival total, winning the Triumph Hurdle in 2014, the National Hunt Chase in 2017 and the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase a year ago.

The 2018 Grand National hero showed himself to be in rude health when landing the Grade 2 Boyne Hurdle at Navan last Sunday, an outcome Elliott was not expecting.

Elliott said: "I was completely surprised by Tiger Roll at Navan. I thought he might beat a few of his rivals but I never felt he'd win.

Watch Tiger Roll win last season's Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival

"We were hoping he'd run well before heading for the cross-country but what he did was absolutely amazing. He travelled, hurdled really well and ran away from them. It showed just how good and versatile he is.

"He's a great favourite with all the staff and he's come out of the race in good order. We're hoping he can add to his impressive festival record."

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