Lisa O’Neill: Five Gordon Elliott-trained horses to follow

All is good. The winter horses are back in and doing their routine canters. Lots of them have done really, really well for their summer break and it's good to see them back in. It's an exciting time of the year, and when you see them starting to increase their work a little bit, and when some of them start to go away for bits of work, it gets even more exciting. 

Gordon is good as well, looking forward to the year ahead and what lies ahead of him, and he's obviously got some exciting ammunition on his hands. The start of the year is always full of excitement, and we still look forward to it.

We have plenty of young horses, and I think they showed themselves off well last season. Even if they didn't finish the season as we expected, we still have high expectations for those horses because we perceive many of them will always be better over jumps than starting off in the bumper route. 

Even some of the novice hurdlers that we had last year, I think there's plenty of them to look forward to. As with the bumper squad we had, they're always moving up to the next step, taking on the novice hurdles this year, and there are a couple there that will be exciting going forward.

It's hard to tempt fate, obviously, because there is a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and then at the spring festivals. But Gordon has always had a massive team of horses pinpointed to start at the Down Royal meeting at the end of October/start of November. 

He always likes to target that as the kick off to his season to get them out good and early. Romeo Coolio will definitely be aimed for a chase there, and there will be a big team of horses pinpointed for the bumpers, novice hurdles, and a nice mares hurdle race there.

That's the hunger within Gordon, and I think he has and always will have that hunger, drive, and ambition. They're the things that you need to succeed at the level he is competing. It can be easy to think you might never get there, but you have to remain optimistic and positive. Gordon is someone who certainly doesn't lack ambition or drive, and the hunger remains.

Whether it's this year, next year, or another five or ten years' time, that is always one of his key ambitions, and he won't stop until he gets there. You need people driving each other on, and Willie does that to Gordon, and vice versa.

They're going along fine. Gordon would be the first one to admit that he probably hasn't had the summer success that he would usually have with regard to the quantity of winners he's had. 

It probably just hasn't been the best bunch of horses with us over the summer months, but nonetheless, that doesn't matter moving forward. We still have some nice ones moving forward into the winter, and some exciting ones too. We’ll be trying to get our horses out before Willie gets a lot of his ammunition out.

Trends show that Willie will always finish the season a little bit better than we do. That’s because we get out earlier. It’s worked for Gordon for this long. When things haven’t gone as well as he might have expected, such as Cheltenham in the last couple of seasons, he’s always looking at different angles and how he can improve; small things which add up. 

Gordon is always one who’s happy to go back to the drawing board and look at what could be done better in a different way.

There are a couple of things, but I can’t reveal anything. There are a lot of different factors: how the handicap works nowadays, the way the ground is changing so it’s about looking at everything. The most important thing is shaping Gordon’s training to suit those changeables.

Brighterdaysahead is the Queen of the yard, really!

Gordon holds her in such high regard. She showed what she's capable of last season; she was behind Lossiemouth in Cheltenham but bounced back at Aintree. If you ever see her, she's so masculine in her physique - she's big, strong, powerful, and takes the sight out of your eyes.

She went back to Gigginstown for her summer break and has come back strong, eager, and enthusiastic. Gordon, Michael, and Eddie O'Leary sat down to discuss her future and decided to keep her over hurdles. She's extremely valuable as a broodmare, and highly competitive from two to two-and-a-half miles. 

Even if she bumps into Lossiemouth again, you can't fear one horse, and she could well dominate that division on a good day. We can't forget she also beat Lossiemouth back at Christmas time.

Wodhooh was phenomenal last season and really successful. She'll obviously have options again, and I would imagine the Mares' Hurdle will be her main target come the spring festivals. She could well start off at Ascot.

As we've seen, she's extremely versatile distance-wise, so there's no reason she couldn't step up in trip either. She looks brilliant on the gallop at the moment and is certainly capable of doing what she did last year, or even more.

Romeo Coolio will start off in Down Royal in the Second Season Chase over two and a half miles.

Gordon openly discussed that he had an operation on his back for kissing spines - which is bone on bone, vertebrae against vertebrae. He's all well healed up from that now, and we're hoping that will help him move on because that was very disappointing when he pulled up in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham when sent off as favourite. He'll have options of going across the water, and I actually think a track like Kempton could suit him really well.

Carsons Dreamboat won a bumper well at Clonmel. She’s had a break. She didn’t have a straightforward campaign after that as she pulled muscles. She is a really big chestnut filly who should come into her own when she sees a jump in front of her. I don’t think she’ll have any trouble winning her maiden hurdle. It’s just about keeping her sound.

Skerry Hill could potentially start off in a maiden hurdle in Down Royal. I think he's a really nice horse who would take the sight out of your eyes on the gallop because he carries himself very well. Temperament-wise, he's grown up a little bit. He showed a lot of raw ability when he won his bumper in Ayr. He's one who would be top of my list to see what he can do over hurdles this year, and I think he can scale the heights.

Skylight Hustle you’d like to think is a Grade 1 horse. His form tapered off a little bit. He was far too keen at Cheltenham and did too much too soon and burned himself out. We hope he can move forward and show himself off. He’ll have a couple of nice targets. I’d be looking forward to see, what he can do because we know what he is capable of. I’d keep the faith in him.

El Cairos ran in the Galway Hurdle and the more you look back at it, the better he ran. He ran into some trouble and didn’t get the clearest of runs. Galway is a tricky track and you need luck. Gordon is going to pick out a few more races for him over hurdles and see where he fits in as the season progresses. 

He is caught a bit between a rock and a hard place. He needs to improve to campaign at the highest level, yet he is a high-class handicapper but he has yet to prove that off the mark that he is at. But I still think he’s capable of winning off that mark.

Monster Truck has a lot to live up to his price tag! He won a point-to-point for Cormac Doyle. He's a gorgeous big horse, and has settled in really well, and is taking to the routine excellently. He's by Goliath du Berlais and actually has a little bit of French middle-distance class through his pedigree. 

So even for his size and scope, you'd like to think he might have a bit of pace there as well. He's just cantering away with the rest of the horses back from their summer break, so we're excited to see what he can do. The clock will start moving soon. A big price tag but we think he’ll fulfil that potential.

1 - Keep Him Company: Ran in a few bumpers last year. I had high hopes for him in the Cheltenham bumper where he disappointed, but I think the ground was just too quick. He'll be a nice horse going over hurdles for the first time.

2 - Brighterdaysahead: Clearly, because she's the queen and stable star.

3 - Monster Truck: I've been let down before with horses who don’t reflect their price tag. But he is a beautiful, athletic, big, scopey-looking horse who covers the ground really well. His French middle-distance pedigree is very attractive and hopefully injects a bit of speed.

4 - Skerry Hill: As we spoke about before, a really nice prospect.

5 - Hernando de Soto: He actually missed last season after winning a point-to-point. He had a small setback, and we just let him out. He's back in now, and I'm hoping he can be one to follow.