Trainer Gordon Elliott© Photo Healy Racing
Gordon Elliott is looking forward to getting his team back to the track at Clonmel on Thursday evening where the trainer will have three runners.
Percy, Last Minute Man and Lady V will be trainer’s first runners for 13 days after Elliott decided to give team an easy time of things in the aftermath of the Punchestown Festival.
He said today:- “As I said last week we had a few horses run below expectations at Punchestown and the following week.
“A few of the horses didn’t scope clean and we had some coughing so it was decided to give them an easy few days as missing some time at this time of the year isn’t the end of the world.
"The yard was never shut down and we just felt that the most beneficial course of action for our owners and the horses, many of whom had had a long season, was to give them an easy time of things.
“Contrary to uninformed and malicious speculation there was nothing more to it than that. The yard was never shut down, we were never prevented from running horses and we’re looking forward to getting back racing and having a good summer both over jumps and on the flat.”
Furthermore the I.H.R.B. Chief Veterinary Officer Lynn Hillyer commented: “The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and Irish Equine Centre have been working closely with Gordon over the last couple of weeks to identify the nature of the respiratory issue which has affected some of his horses.
“Whilst this was underway, Gordon voluntarily stopped horses leaving his yard to race and has worked with his veterinary surgeon to bring the situation under control as rapidly as possible and protect the wider population.
“Results have shown that the agent responsible for the issue is not Strep. equi subspecies equi. The IHRB is therefore in agreement with Gordon that movement of horses from his yard is now appropriate,” she concluded.
