Exquisite Elliott has undoubted potential to shake things up on the Flat
When Gordon Elliott spoke to the press in the aftermath of Beckford’s decisive Railway Stakes success, he was at a loss to name the six-furlong Group 1 back at the Curragh that he planned to target next with his unbeaten colt.
Knowing Elliott’s oft-stated preference for the winter pursuit, all present saw the funny side of the exquisite handler's apathy. A year earlier, when Elliott's Commissioned was one of a record ten Irish-trained winners at Royal Ascot, he wasn't even present.
Fresh from masterminding Gold Cup glory with Don Cossack, he was on holidays in Barbados, and a sense prevailed that his indifference to the Flat mirrored that of the broader sporting public in Ireland.
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