You can get the low-down on all of Gordon Elliott’s runners for the upcoming campaign in Racing Post’s Stable Tour. It’s available for Racing Post Members’ Club subscribers in full on the website and will prove an invaluable guide for this season.
The most interesting piece of information to come out of Part 1 of the Stable Tour were the comments made about Ballyadam. There is no better judge of a young horse than Jamie Codd. He himself breeds horses and he knows the point-to-point scene inside out. Arguably the best amateur jockey of all time, when he speaks highly of a horse, you listen.
Running in the famous colours of Cheveley Park Stud, Ballyadam is a five-year-old gelding. He is sired by the magnificent Fame And Glory and looks an exciting prospect over hurdles this season. When Gordon Elliott was asked about his planned roadmap this season, he replied with the following…
“He’s a smart horse. The plan will be to start him off in a maiden hurdle at Down Royal and I’d be disappointed if he’s not a Graded horse over hurdles this season. When Jamie [Codd] got off him after winning at Downpatrick he said he was the best horse who would ever run up there – Jamie doesn’t say things like that too often, so you have to respect what he says.
“Jamie wasn’t wonderful on him when he got beaten in a bumper at Navan the time before that but the ground was very heavy and the horse ran keen. We couldn’t see him being beaten that day as he was working that well, so we all had long faces on us that day, but it was great to see him do what we thought he was capable of doing at Downpatrick and we think he can take high rank over hurdles this year.”
To suggest this horse was arguably the best to ever set foot on Downpatrick racecourse is a bold statement. It is also one that must be listened to. Jamie Codd doesn’t say stuff just for the sake of it. So where will Ballyadam end up at the Cheltenham Festival? He’s sired by a stayer on the Flat and is a half-brother to a three-mile chaser. He is a staying chaser in the making but he showed plenty of pace over two miles at Downpatrick. He doesn’t lack speed so he could end up in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle or the Ballymore.