Gordon Elliott Arrives at Cheltenham With Strongest Team Since 2018
gordon elliott is heading into the Cheltenham Festival with what he calls his most powerful squad in almost a decade, fronted by Champion Hurdle charge Brighterdaysahead and a string that includes Teahupoo, Honesty Policy and El Cairos. That concentration of talent — backed by 146 early entries and a return of Wodhooh after last year’s Martin Pipe success — sets the stage for a concerted bid to convert potential into actual winners.
Gordon Elliott Squad Strength
Elliott arrives as the Cullentra trainer with 41 previous Cheltenham winners and a belief that his string has regained the calibre last seen in 2017 and 2018, when he collected leading-trainer honours. The pattern suggests the comparison to 2017–18 matters beyond nostalgia: those seasons produced a cluster of victories that Elliott’s current roster aims to replicate, and the presence of established performers and new talent makes that repetition structurally plausible.
Brighterdaysahead in Champion Hurdle
Brighterdaysahead is named as a leading contender for the Champion Hurdle after recent form that included a win at Leopardstown, and she will carry the weight of being Elliott’s main hope in that feature race. The figures point to this being a pivotal moment for Elliott’s Champion Hurdle record: he has yet to win the race, finished fourth last year with Brighterdaysahead, and immediate redemption in the Unibet Champion Hurdle would change his Festival narrative.
Wodhooh and Martin Pipe
Wodhooh, last year’s Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle winner for The Sundowners Partnership, returns to contest the Mares’ division, providing continuity from Elliott’s sole Cheltenham success in the previous Festival. The detail that Wodhooh was the stable’s only winner last year underlines why Elliott has described the final-day victory as emotionally draining for staff; the management of that turnaround speaks to renewed depth rather than a single standout performer.
Supporting entries such as Teahupoo and Honesty Policy — cited as Stayers’ Hurdle favourites — plus youngsters El Cairos, Ballyfad and Skylight Hustle, and yard stalwarts Western Fold and Favori De Champdou, give Elliott multiple points of attack across the week. Jack Kennedy is named among the stellar team of jockeys set to ride for him, and almost half of Elliott’s 41 Festival winners have come for brothers Michael and Eddie O’Leary, a partnership that returns this week with strong representation. The pattern suggests Elliott is aligning owner relationships, jockey bookings and a broad runner base to maximise winner opportunities.
Live entries place Elliott fourth on the all-time Cheltenham trainers list behind Willie Mullins (113 wins), Nicky Henderson (75 wins) and Paul Nicholls (50 wins), and his 146 early entries this year aim to mount a challenge to climb that list. If a meaningful share of those early entries translate to declared runners and strong performances, the data suggests he could add enough winners to improve his historic standing at the Festival.
His next confirmed development is already in place: Elliott’s Tuesday team is led off by El Cairos in the Supreme, with Koktail Brut also declared for that day, while Brighterdaysahead remains a leading contender for the Champion Hurdle. If those runners perform as expected, the immediate impact will be measurable in race results and could determine whether Elliott converts this season’s depth into multiple Cheltenham winners.
