Kate Harrington, 12 years Elliott's junior, is the youngest daughter of legendary trainer Jessica and currently works as her assistant and also as an occasional pundit on Racing TV

Grand National-winning trainer Gordon Elliott capped off a special week with a victory at Cheltenham on Friday, before confirming news of his engagement to Kate Harrington.

Elliott, 48, secured another win to his tally with Bowensonfire during Friday’s race meeting, further solidifying his yard's strong form this season.

Meath-based Elliott made history at age 29 in 2007 as the youngest trainer to win the Grand National at Aintree.

When asked after success in the Catesby Estates Novices' Chase at Cheltenham about rumours around his engagement to Harrington, the trainer confirmed the news to Nick Luck on Racing TV.

Luck said “you got engaged yesterday, congratulations” — to which Elliott replied by saying “yes” and “thank you”.

Kate Harrington (36) is the youngest daughter of legendary trainer Jessica and currently works as her assistant and also as an occasional pundit on Racing TV.

She was a successful amateur jockey, riding Moscow Flyer to her first success in 2007, but retired in 2018 with around 50 wins to her name.

Moone-based Harrington and Elliott, whose yard is in Summerhill, Co Meath, have been dating for a number of years, but kept their romance away from the public eye largely, until now.She stood by him during his controversial six-month suspension from training in 2021 when he was photographed sitting on a dead horse.

Elliott is one of the most successful modern trainers in racing history, having trained three Aintree Grand National winners (Silver Birch in 2007 and the legendary Tiger Roll in 2018 and 2019).

He has trained over 40 Cheltenham Festival winners and was named the top trainer at the festival in both 2017 and 2018.

Elliott began his racing career as a teenager working for Tony Martin at weekends and during school holidays. Having taken out his amateur rider's license at the age of 16, he went on to be a prolific rider both in the point-to-point field and on the racecourse.

He rode a total of 46 winners on the racecourse, the highlight being his win in the Punchestown Champion Bumper on the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained King's Road in 1998. He also rode as an amateur for Martin Pipe.

Having hung up his riding boots at the end of 2005, he began to concentrate on his new career as a trainer the following year. He Elliott came to worldwide attention when training Silver Birch (Robbie Power) to win the Aintree Grand National in 2007, a success made all the more remarkable by the fact that, at the time, he had yet to train a winner in Ireland.