Gordon Elliott hits treble top at Navan as Better Days Ahead leads home 1-2-3 in Grade 2 to set up festival tilt

Domination at Navan is not an unusual experience for Gordon Elliott and the form of his horses with Cheltenham around the corner will be especially welcome as he landed both Grade 2 contests on the card on Sunday.

In the William Hill Novice Chase Better Days Ahead led home a 1-2-3 for the stable in the hands of Sam Ewing. The favourite was going one better than in the Grade 1 at Leopardstown in December and looks likely to add to Elliott's strong hand in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at Cheltenham. 

The son of Milan was in front soon enough and was never doing more than he had to in accounting for stable companion Stellar Story by a neck, with the stable trifecta rounded off by Three Card Brag.

Elliott said: "I'm delighted with all three horses. Better Days Ahead wasn't doing a stroke in front. It wasn't ideal, he needs something to make it and he goes for the Brown Advisory. I was thrilled with Stellar Story. If we could get him just to jump a bit better there is a big day in him. He wasn't as guessy at his fences today and he could go for the Brown Advisory too. Three Card Brag ran well in his own right, he needed that run to qualify for the Grand National." 

Maxxum a record equaller for Elliott

Elliott equalled the record held by his fellow countyman Noel Meade when the front-running Maxxum gave the trainer his fifth winner of the  Grade 2 William Hill Boyne Hurdle, beating the Meade-trained favourite Thedevilscoachman into second.

Given a good, front-running ride by Danny Gilligan, the winner was able to take advantage of a soft enough lead, and looked as though he wanted it that bit more than the runner-up when push came to shove.

Maxxum stayed on well to win by four lengths and Elliott thought the drop in trip was one of the keys to this success. He said: "I thought he had a chance.  He had a good run at Gowran over three miles last time when he didn't get home. We thought dropping back to this trip would work well if he got a soft enough lead. Danny was able to get a breather into him at the right time and he did it well. He'll go for the Coral Cup now." 

Sam Ewing partnered the very promising Honesty Policy to victory in the opening maiden hurdle to initiate a treble for Elliott.

De Bromhead back in the groove

Some greener shoots have begun to sprout for Henry de Bromhead this week after a very poor run of form in January and he saddled his second winner of the week when the Sally Rowley-Williams-owned and bred Tareze recorded a decisive victory under Darragh O'Keeffe in the mares' novice hurdle.

Not seen since finishing second in a similar contest at Punchestown in December, the daughter of Kayf Tara was always in control and galloped clear in taking fashion from the final flight to score by eight lengths from Blue Mosque. 

The trainer's assistant Robbie Power said: "She's improving all the time. She's a big mare and stronger this season. That was a very good performance. She travelled very sweetly behind the pace and when Darragh gave her a squeeze she picked up very well. She jumped super.

"We're delighted for Sally as well. She's had some very good horses with us over the years including the likes of Special Tiara who won a Champion Chase. She'll be quite keen to go to the Mares' Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham and that's a possibility if we get soft ground. She's probably entitled to go on the back of that. I wouldn't be worried about the drop back in trip. Darragh felt she was hacking the whole way and she certainly isn't slow."

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