Elliott confident Dirar can deliver Gordon Elliott thinks Dirar will take "all the beating" in the American Grand National at Far Hills next month. A multiple winner on the Flat and over hurdles, Elliott decided to embark upon an American odyssey due to his exalted handicap marks in those spheres. Given his lack of size and scope, Elliott is not keen on sending him over fences in Ireland, so instead persuaded his owners to head Stateside. He has already had one run in America, when second at Saratoga last Thursday. "He ran a good, honest race, but Barry (Geraghty) said he felt nothing like the horse he rode at Galway," said Elliott. "That's to be expected, though, as he'd travelled halfway across the world and was running just a couple of days later. "The big race in October is the race we want to win and now we're getting him ready for that. "He'll run on October 1 in a prep race, but the big race is on October 22. "We ran Salford City over there but this is a different type of horse and we hope if everything goes right he'll take all the beating. "He's only 15 hands high so he'd struggle over fences over here. He's been great for us over hurdles and on the Flat so I don't want to just win a couple of summer chases with him. "This was the plan we came up with and the owners are up for it," the County Meath handler told At The Races.
