Of all the Irish-trained winners of the Aintree Grand National in the “noughties”, arguably the best story is attached to the success of Silver Birch in the 2007 renewal of the race. A broken-down cast-off from the biggest trainer in England, when he gained his memorable win at Aintree, his rookie trainer Gordon Elliott had yet to train a winner in Ireland. However, there was certainly no fluke about the success and it ranks as one of the best training performances in the race of the last decade.
Trainer: Gordon Elliott
Principal Jockeys: Robbie Power, Jason Maguire
Notable Win: Aintree Grand National (Silver Birch 2007)
Early Days
A high-class handicap chaser for Paul Nicholls, Silver Birch won the Becher Chase over the Grand National fences at Aintree and the Welsh Grand National in 2004 before missing a year due to injury. He failed to recapture his form when returning to the racecourse, including when falling in the 2006 Aintree Grand National and he was sold for £20,000 the month after that mishap. Despite reportedly being very lame when arriving at Gordon Elliott’s yard, the young trainer exercised patience in abundance and had him back at race fitness the following November.
Elliott Takes Charge
Silver Birch had his first start for Elliott with just six weeks left as a nine-year-old, finishing third in a point-to-point at Castletown-Geoghegan. His attentions were then turned to the unique discipline of cross-country chasing, finishing a respectable eighth at Cheltenham in December before registering an improved second to Heads Onthe Ground over the banks at Punchestown in February. Following a warm-up race over hurdles a few weeks later, he was deemed spot on to contest the cross-country chase at the Cheltenham Festival and he acquitted himself very well indeed, finishing a close second to Heads Onthe Ground.
Aintree Glory
Following that very pleasing effort, all roads led back to the Aintree Grand National for the 10-year-old. Sent off at 33/1, Silver Birch profited from a positive Robbie Power ride, leading at the final fence and keeping on strongly to prevail by ¾-length. The win prompted rapturous scenes of celebration, with many of the British media scrambling to find out just who the rookie trainer of the winner was. Remarkably, at the time of that success, Elliott had still not trained a winner in Ireland.
The Long Road Back
Unfortunately, that would prove to be his last run for the better part of two years, as injury intervened. He made a winning return to action in the point-to-point field at Nenagh in February 2009, but his bid to regain his Aintree Grand National crown ended at Becher’s Brook the second time around when still travelling well. He wrapped up his comeback campaign by finishing a highly-creditable second in the La Touche Cup over the banks at the Punchestown Festival. Unfortunately, that will prove to be the highlight of the remainder of his career, as his 2009/10 campaign was generally a disappointing one, with him narrowly failing to make the cut the Aintree Grand National and running poorly in the Topham Chase instead.
It was a remarkable training feat from Elliott to bring Silver Birch back from the scrapheap to win the world’s most gruelling race and it is a testament to Silver Birch’s own toughness that he achieved so much for Elliott. His win certainly kick started the meteoric rise of Elliott up the training ranks and Silver Birch will always be for his exploits that day at Aintree.
Info supplied by Horse Racing Ireland - Updated January 2011
