BetVictor Champion Chase: Envoi Allen bids for third win

Envoi Allen may be in the twilight of his career at the age of 11, but optimism is high in the Cheveley Park camp that their popular veteran can bag himself a third victory in the BetVictor Champion Chase at Down Royal on Saturday.

It is six and a half years since Envoi Allen broke his Grade One duck in the Champion Bumper, the first of three triumphs at Cheltenham Festival while his overall top-level tally stands at nine.

There have been one or two bumps in the road along the way, but Henry de Bromhead’s charge has been near faultless in the first Grade One of the Irish jumps season in each of the past three seasons, with victories in 2022 and 2024 sandwiching a neck-long defeat at the hands of Gerri Colombe in 2023.

He has been off the track since finishing third in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in March and Cheveley Park Stud director Richard Thompson is excited to see him return to a happy hunting ground this weekend.

He said: “He’s been a fantastic horse, what a journey he’s taken us on.

“He’s won nine Grade Ones and is a three-time Cheltenham Festival winner.

“This will probably be his last season, I would guess, so let’s how he runs on Saturday and go from there.

“He has had one or two down days, but there have been a lot more good days than bad. Even the times he’s been beaten at Cheltenham he’s been placed in a Champion Chase and a Ryanair – his CV is just fantastic.

“Henry says he retains his enthusiasm and if he can get 10 Grade Ones it would be remarkable, but as the old saying he goes he owes us nothing.”

Chief among Envoi Allen’s rivals is Jimmy Mangan’s Spillane’s Tower, a dual Grade One-winning novice who split the star Willie Mullins-trained duo of Fact To File and Galopin Des Champs on his first start of last season in the John Durkan at Punchestown.

He disappointed as favourite for the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day and did not run again until finishing a distant second behind Galopin Des Champs in the Punchestown Gold Cup in the spring, but he is poised for a return to action this weekend – provided underfoot conditions are deemed suitable.

Frank Berry, racing manager to owner JP McManus, said: “The horse is in great form, Jimmy is very happy with him. We’re hoping to go up there to run, but we need the rain – he won’t run unless he gets the rain.

“It’s a nice place to get him started so long as the ground is OK. We are due rain, how much we’ll get I don’t know.

“He’d want to be on his best behaviour, it’s a competitive race. Hopefully all being well we’ll be able to run him.”

Gordon Elliott saddles the returning Found A Fifty, Galway Plate and PWC Champion Chase winner Western Fold and Stellar Story, with the field completed by Noel Meade’s Affordale Fury and Keith Watson’s rank outsider Flash Collonges.