Tom Ellis, who has been Britain’s most successful point-to-point trainer for the past five seasons, is on the cusp of gaining a full trainer’s licence.
The catalyst has been the emergence of Latenightpass as a Randox Grand National contender. Owned and bred by Ellis’s mother Pippa, and the regular mount of his wife Gina Andrews, Latenightpass has been trained by Dan Skelton this season, during which he has won and been placed in races over Cheltenham’s cross-country course. The reserves of stamina he showed in those two races, allied to his solid record over Aintree’s National fences, led to the idea of running in the world’s most famous steeplechase on April 13.
The Ellis family could have kept the 11-year-old with Skelton, but as Warwickshire-based Ellis said: “I'll never get another chance to train a horse for the National that is owned and was bred by my mum and will be ridden by my wife.”
Ellis (pictured above), who has trained more than 300 point-to-point and hunters’ chase winners to date, undertakes his final trainer’s module on March 22 and hopes to receive the licence the following day. He expects Latenightpass to be his first runner, although he has other horses at his yard who are ready to begin racing under rules. He said one barn will be given over to those horses, while two barns and outside pens will continue to house point-to-pointers.
Thanking Skelton for his role in lifting the horse’s rating to one which guarantees him a run in the Grand National, Ellis said: “Dan has done a fantastic job. We’ve been best mates since the age of 11 and we’ve always got on like a house on fire with never a cross word. I value his opinion.
“At 16 I got my first two pointers and he and I would ride them out together, we joined the Cheltenham Young Members’ Club at the same time and went to every meeting and we both rode round there in a hunter chase.
“When I floated this idea and asked his advice he gave it to me, the good and the bad, and it’s lovely that through Latenightpass we’ve been on another journey together.
“The horse has never stopped surprising us and giving his all – it is a fantasy to be on the verge of training a National runner. We’ve trained him to run at three Aintree Festivals, but for the Foxhunters’ on the Thursday, not the National on the Saturday and we recognise the challenge he faces.
Latenightpass (Gina Andrews): from point-to-pointer to cross-country star and Grand National contender
“I’m taking nothing away from Dan when I say the biggest difference to the horse this year has been taking weight off his back [by running in handicaps]. He’s a small horse and light-framed who has been carrying 12st in races all his life. If [topweight] Hewick stays in the weight our horse carries in the National [10st 6lb] will be the second-lowest he has ever carried.
“The quirky nature of the cross-country course and the National fences suit him when they might not suit all horses. He is a brilliant jumper.”
Ellis said his wife would take on responsibility for the yard’s point-to-pointers, and added: “Certainly in the medium term there will be little change. We have a lot of loyal owners, some who have said they would be happy to have runners under rules, others who prefer point-to-pointing. Our focus will remain on producing nice young horses, whether that is through pointing or bumpers and hurdles.
“Gina has no plans to retire from riding and point-to-pointing has been very good to me. I’ve had a lot of fun, made a lot of friends and met my wife. The sport has taught us everything we know and more, but I would be daft not to grab this new opportunity and give it a go.”
Until the licence arrives it is full steam ahead at Ellis’s Warwickshire yard. This weekend he is expecting to have runners in Somerset, Kent, Northamptonshire, Yorkshire and the Scottish Borders.