Backstage Profile

Backstage is one of many Gordon Elliott horses and one of the few with bags of potential and talent. Backstage has been part of the Gordon Elliott stables for just under two years and is currently being prepared to race in the Grand National.

The nine-year-old Bay Gelding has a slightly lower number of career races to date but the statistics have been good with four wins, four second places and four third places from 20 races. These figures are encouraging and suggest consistency is rife among Gordon Elliott horses.

Career of Backstage

The career of Backstage started on July 11 2006 over 18 furlongs at Clairefontaine in France. Backstage was still a very raw horse at this stage but finished third in a field of nine.

The first win in the career of Backstage arrived at Cheltenham over 16 furlongs in only the second career race for the horse. Tony McCoy led the horse to the front from start to finish in the race as autumn 2006 blossomed for Backstage.

Three second places and two third places followed in the career of Backstage between November 2006 and May 2008. All of these performances allowed the horse to develop a particular racing style and improve areas such as speed and stamina.

Main Strengths of Backstage

One of the main strengths of Backstage is the ability of this horse to control a race. Backstage likes to push to the front and have other horses to race with and around. The horse has a brilliant ability to change gears and push away from a leading pack after being tucked inside. This has been evident in a few good performances of the horse under Elliott's guidance. 

Staying on is another of the main strengths of Backstage. Staying on is a skill that can be developed and improved by trainers and it's the process where a horse will hold off a challenge from another runner late in a race. Backstage has shown a great ability to stay on when a race has gone perfectly.

Main Weaknesses of Backstage

One of the main weaknesses of Backstage is the reliance of this horse on a number of external factors surrounding a race. Backstage has run superbly well when things such as ground, start, position, pace and more have all gone in favour of the horse.

The best horses in long distance jump racing have all shown some form of adaptability and elements of this have been evident with Backstage under Elliott in recent races. However, the horse is still very reliant on a number of things in order to be successful.

Recent Form of Backstage

The recent form of Backstage has not been impressive as the horse has not finished any higher than fifth since February 2008. The reason for this is that Elliott has been working on improving many aspects of the horse and the jockey has changed constantly. Backstage has not had a regular jockey since Jamie Maguire rode the horse five times out of six between 2009 and 2010.