10/04/2026
Happy birthday to Hall of Fame trainer Janet Elliot, a member of the class of 2009. A native of County Cork, Ireland, Elliot came to the United States in 1968 to work for trainer Betty Bird. After later working for Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, Elliot opened her own public stable. In 1991, she succeeded Sheppard as the leading trainer of steeplechasers in the United States by money won, ending Sheppard’s 18-year reign. Elliot also led the nation in steeplechase victories that season. She topped the earnings list again in 1998 and ranked second or third 11 times at the time of her Hall of Fame induction. Elliot was the first woman to win a national training title and the first woman trainer inducted into the Hall of Fame. Jumpers trained by Elliot won three Eclipse Awards: Correggio in 1996 and Flat Top in 1998 and 2002. Correggio (1996) and Flat Top (1998, 2002) account for three of Elliot’s six wins of the Colonial Cup, which she also won with Victorian Hill (1990), Declare Your Wish (1993), and Alajmal (2013). Among Elliot’s other major steeplechase victories are six wins in the National Hunt Cup, five in the American Grand National, four in both the Temple Gwathmey and Iroquois, three in the Carolina Cup, and two in both the A. P. Smithwick and New York Turf Writers Cup. In 1991, her entrants Declare Your Wish and Double Barrel finished in a dead heat for first in the Grand National. Happy birthday, Janet!
Photo: Janet Elliot at Saratoga Race Course (Brien Bouyea)
