Tag Archive for: Tashkhan

Ellison planning dual challenge for Northumberland Plate

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North-east native Brian Ellison has famously never won the Jenningsbet Northumberland Plate Handicap but he has two live chances this weekend in top-weight Tashkhan and November Handicap winner Onesmoothoperator.

Ellison was born on Plate day in 1952 and turns 72 the day before this year’s renewal.

In 2016 he came agonisingly close with Seamour, who looked home and hosed only to be caught late on by Godolphin’s Antiquarium.

This year he will saddle the highest-rated horse in Tashkhan, who was third in the Cesarewitch and the Group One Prix Royal-Oak last term, while Onesmoothoperator already has one big handicap on the all-weather to his name after the November Handicap was rerouted from Doncaster in 2023.

“They’ll both run at the moment, that’s the plan anyway,” said Ellison.

Tashkhan (inside) went close in the Cesarewitch
Tashkhan (inside) went close in the Cesarewitch (Tim Goode/PA)

“Smoothie is very good round Newcastle, he likes it there, Tashkhan, we don’t know about the surface, but he is the best horse.

“His last two handicaps have been good, he won at Chester and then his Cesarewitch run is just about the best handicap form you can get. He was beaten a head and three-quarters by the two Irish horses (The Shunter and Pied Piper).

“Will he go on the all-weather? I just don’t know but I’m not going to run him on fast ground, so we haven’t got many options.

“The track could be riding slower in this weather but while that would suit him, I’m not sure it would suit Smoothie but we can’t have everything.”

When asked to split the pair, Ellison said: “Tashkhan is very fit, I know he hasn’t run for a while but he is fit. They have both got good chances, they are similar prices and it doesn’t look like the favourite (Pledgeofallegiance) is going to run.

“Smoothie worked this morning and he worked fantastic.

“It would be a monkey off my back if I could win it, everyone keeps asking but if I don’t manage it, I’ll try next year.”



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Tashkhan out to replicate Newmarket form in Prix Royal-Oak

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Brian Ellison believes if Tashkhan can reproduce his brave Cesarewitch run he will win Sunday’s Prix Royal-Oak at ParisLongchamp.

Carrying top-weight, the five-year-old hit the front inside the final quarter-mile, but his welter burden told inside the last furlong and he was passed by The Shunter and eventually Pied Piper.

Ellison rated it as a career-best effort, despite it coming in a handicap, but does harbour some doubts about whether those exertions may have taken the edge off his stable star.

“He ran a blinder in the Cesarewitch. You wonder if he had too hard a race there but you don’t know until you run them, that’s the danger,” he said.

“To be fair to the horse, he is tough, he seems well at home, I’m quite happy with him even though he’s just been ticking over and it’s his last run of the year, so we’ll see.

“If he performs like he did in the Cesarewitch, he’ll win, won’t he. I think it was just about his best-ever run when you take into account the weight he was carrying. All the ratings people tend to agree, too. It was some run.

“He was only beaten by two proper horses, giving them a stone. The winner has proven his class by winning at Cheltenham and Pied Piper was running against Champion Hurdle horses most of last season.

“I don’t think there’s anything like those two in this race, but the danger is we’ve got to travel all the way to France. But he is tough and if he can repeat his Newmarket run he won’t be far away.”

Fellow British raiders in what is the French version of the St Leger include Chester Cup winner Metier and James Fanshawe’s Novel Legend, while the home team is headed by the three-year-old Double Major.



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Ellison to consider travel plans for Tashkhan

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Brian Ellison is considering options in France and Australia for Tashkhan following his fine weight-carrying performance in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket on Saturday.

The high-class stayer has been placed in a number of top races over the past couple of years, including the 2021 Long Distance Cup at Ascot and last season’s Yorkshire Cup and Prix du Cadran.

Having registered a first win in over two years in a valuable race at Chester late last month, Tashkhan was lumbered with top-weight of 10st 2lb in last weekend’s prestigious handicap on the Rowley Mile, but showed his class in being beaten just a length into third place by The Shunter and Pied Piper.

With options to run in Britain before the end of the year limited, Ellison may look to a trip across the Channel for a tilt at the Prix Royal-Oak on October 29, while an even longer journey to run on foreign soil is in the melting pot for next year.

He said: “It was a fantastic run, he got beaten by two proper horses. The penalty he got for winning at Chester probably beat him, but he ran a blinder and it was probably one of his better runs.

“We did think about putting a claimer on him but he’s a hard enough ride, which is why we left Ben (Robinson) on him, and to be fair he gave him a great ride.

“I took him out of Ascot on Saturday. He is entered in France, but I don’t know. He’s had two races in handicap company under top-weight and now we’ve got him back to some really good form, maybe we should just look after him a bit more.

“We are talking about the Sydney Cup at Randwick, where it’s wet. That race is in April, so if we wanted to go for that he’d need to go to Australia in February time.

“It’s not definite, it’s just something to think about. If he doesn’t go there, he’ll probably go to Nottingham again for the Further Flight and then just wait for soft ground.”

Ellison first bought Tashkhan out of Emmet Mullins’ yard with the idea of a future career over obstacles, but that plan has been put on the back burner for the time being.

He added: “We were actually thinking about going jumping earlier this year because he lost his way a bit, but that was probably more because he wasn’t getting his ground and he wasn’t enjoying it.

“If we did go jumping, he’d be some three-miler, I know that, and I did school him when I first got him, but he ended up being a good Flat horse, so we left him there.

“Is it worth risking it when we’re making good prize-money on the Flat? I think we’ll just stick to good races on the Flat, as there’s more money to be made.”



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Conditions key to Ellison’s plan for back-to-form Tashkhan

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Brian Ellison has three options for Tashkhan having seen his stable star get back to winning ways at Chester last weekend.

The mud-lover defied a big weight to win a valuable handicap, his first success since claiming a big pot at Haydock in July 2021.

In the interim he has performed with great credit in staying races like the Long Distance Cup at Ascot, the Yorkshire Cup and the Gold Cup at Ascot.

However, Ellison always has the problem of knowing the five-year-old is simply not the same horse unless he gets to race on soft ground.

He could now shoulder top-weight of 10st 2lb in the Cesarewitch at Newmarket, with the Long Distance Cup or the Prix Royal-Oak at ParisLongchamp alternate options, with conditions crucial to the decision.

“It all depends on the ground where next, we won’t run him anywhere unless it rains as we know what a different horse he is,” said Ellison.

“He’s in the Cesarewitch, he’s in at Ascot and he could go to France, so wherever the ground comes right he could run in any.

“When he runs on fast ground it takes him a while to get over it but I’ve got him back right again now – thankfully the rain came at Chester. That was a good performance against in-form horses and he was giving them a lot of weight.

“He’s come out of it great which is the main thing. I know he’d have a lot of weight in the Cesarewitch but if it went heavy I’d still think about.

“I’ve stopped looking at weather forecasts, the rain wasn’t forecast for Chester and it poured down.

“You’d think the ground would be soft in France, but it wasn’t last weekend and we went at the beginning of the season when they told us it was heavy, but it was good jumping ground to me.

“If I had to pick one it would be Ascot, if it’s soft there he’d run. We’ll just go where the soft ground is.”



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Ellison hoping wet spell continues ahead of Tashkhan Goodwood run

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Connections of Tashkhan are willing the rain to keep falling ahead of his shot at the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup Stakes.

Brian Ellison’s five-year-old has been an ever-present in the top staying contests in recent years, counting a second in the 2021 British Champions Long Distance Cup and a fifth in the following year’s Ascot Gold Cup as some of the highlights.

Seen just three times this season, he skipped this year’s Ascot feature on account of fast ground and was beaten just three-quarters of a length in his most recent outing in the Silver Cup at York.

Ellison believes he will come on for that first appearance since April and is keen to test his star stayer in Group One company once again, especially with Tashkhan’s favoured soft ground entirely possible on the Sussex Downs.

He said: “Hopefully it will be the Goodwood Cup next, that’s the plan.

“He’s fine and in good fettle and he will come on for the run at York. He hadn’t run for a while and making the running was a bit of a disadvantage to him, he’s always better coming to challenge horses, so it was a good run really. I’m really happy with him.

“He stays longer than the mother-in-law, but knowing our luck, things will start drying up. He doesn’t need to have it heavy or anything, but obviously the softer the better for him, that will give him more of a chance.”

After Goodwood, Ellison has his sights on a return to the Knavesmire for a tilt at the Sky Bet Ebor and a hefty share of it’s £500,000 prize-fund.

“You can’t keep him out of the top four really in these top races and there’s good prize-money and the plan is to go to Goodwood and then to the Ebor.

“I think the Ebor will suit him, a good handicap and a good gallop that he needs.”



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