Special Envoi aims to extend perfect run at Punchestown
IRFU miss chance for an old-school trial match
ENVOI ALLEN could be the star attraction a t Punches - town on Sunday after appearing among 11 entries for the Sky Bet Killiney Novice Chase.
The Cheveley Park Studowned seven- year- old is arguably the most exciting National Hunt horse in training, having won each of his 10 starts to date, including a pair of victories at the Cheltenham Festival in the Champion Bumper and the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.
Gordon Elliott’s charge has made a smooth transition to fences this season, most recently producing a footperfect display in the Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse — and having sidestepped the Christmas action, he is set to return in this weekend’s Grade Three contest.
Elliott has back-up in Andy Dufresne and Conflated, while the Willie Mullinstrained Asterion Forlonge could bid to bounce back from a fall in the Grade One Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick three weeks ago.
Caspian Caviar Gold Cup winner Chatham Street Lad would be a fascinating contender for Mick Winters, although he is expected to run in the Dan& Joan Moore Memorial Chase at Fairyhouse the previous afternoon.
Joseph O’Brien’s pair of Fils D’oudairies and Sempo also feature, along with Dinny Lacey (James Motherway), I’m A Game Changer ( Andrew McNamara), Punitive (Henry de Bromhead) and Rebel Gold (Tom Foley).
Grade Two honours are up for grabs in the Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle.
Willie Mullins has saddled a record seven previous winners of the race, with Mikael D’Haguenet (2009), Vautour (2015), Douvan (2015) and Min ( 2016) among t he Closutton stars to have claimed victory.
This year Mullins has three contenders in Echoes In Rain, Ganapathi and course-and-distance winner Power Of Pause.
Gordon Elliott has landed the last two renewals with Felix Desjy and the aforementioned Andy Dufresne. The master of Cullentra could chase the hat-trick with either or both of Joseph Conrad and Magic Tricks.
Other hopefuls include the prolific Dreal Deal from Ronan McNally’s yard, Henry de Bromhead’s Gua Du Large and Paddy Corkery’s Master McShee, who was last seen impressing in handicap company at Leopardstown.
Sky Bet Head of Sports PR Michael Shinners said: ‘The entries for both the Sky Bet Killiney Novice Chase and the Sky Bet Moscow Flyer look really strong. Both races have a great tradition of throwing up some fantastic winners and hopefully this year will be no different.’
Meanwhile, Cheltenham heroes Chatham Street Lad and The Shunter could lock horns in the Dan & Joan Moore Memorial Chase at Fairyhouse on Saturday.
The Mick Winters-trained trained Chatham Street Lad was a brilliant winner of the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup at Prestbury Park last month, while The Shunter won the Greatwood Hurdle in November for Emmet Mullins.
The pair are among 25 remaining contenders for this weekend’s €75,000 contest, with Joseph O’Brien’s Front View and Impact Factor from Jessica Harrington’s yard potentially bidding to follow up recent course wins.
Gordon Elliott has left in six horses, including Chosen Mate, winner of the Grand Annual at last season’s Cheltenham Festival, while Willie Mullins has both Fan De Blues and Pont Aven.
Noel Meade’s Daly Tiger made an impressive start to the campaign at Punchestown in November, but disappointed at Fairyhouse on his latest appearance.
Meade said: ‘Daly Tiger may run in the Dan Moore at Fairyhouse on Saturday. We’ll see how things progress this week. I don’t know why he ran so poorly the last day. Nothing went right for him and we’ll just have to put a line through it.’
Also featuring on Saturday’s card is the ITM Virtual Stallion Trail Hurdle, for which Gordon Elliott has entered Quilixios.
An impressive winner at both Punchestown and Down Royal, he tops a bumper entry of 17 along with the Willie Mullins-trained Youmdor.
AS the rugby calendar remained in a state of limbo in the wake EPCR’s decision to postpone the remaining two rounds of the European Champions Cup, the Pro14 thought it would be a good time to announce a new partnership with a Scottish whiskey distillers yesterday afternoon.
This came a full 24 hours after the bombshell from European rugby chiefs. It wasn’t the first time that the Pro14 comms team had failed to read the room.
The Top14 and Premiership had already set their stall out. Two rounds of French league games would be brought forward to fill the void while the professional club game in England would be taking a two-week break, going against the wishes of top coaches like Rob Baxter and Pat Lam.
Any idea what the Pro14 would be doing, apart from corporate partnerships? Alas, at 1.59pm yesterday, the league confirmed that two games would be on the agenda during this subsequent two-week vacuum. Glasgow and Edinburgh will be the only Pro14 fare served up this weekend, before all eyes turn to Munster v Leinster at Thomond Park on Saturday, January 23. That could be something special with both provinces set to go fully-loaded, two weeks before the Six Nations begins. Of course, all of that has a massive Covid- 1 9 asterisk attached but, for now, it’s something which all rugby fans can look forward to.
He’s used to setbacks at this stage, but it’ s not an ideal scenario for Ireland head coach Andy Farrell heading into the championship opener against THE Wales on February 7.
THE week off will be most welcomed by players, coaches, staff and administrators across the four provinces, who have been going non-stop since professional rugby resumed back in August. However, given that the championship is looming and, despite the escalating seriousness of the health emergency throughout Europe, there is a strong desire from all unions and stakeholders to ensure it goes ahead this spring, as originally planned. It leaves Farrell in something of a bind, however. As it stands, Connacht and Ulster will not see any action again until after the Six Nations. Not ideal.
Granted, he would have made up his mind about the majority of players in his pre- Six Nations training squad, yet a fortnight of European action would have given Farrell more compelling evidence to include a few bolters while ensuring some muchneeded game-time for more experienced campaigners who have recently returned from injuries.
Certainly, the selection prospects for the Connacht and Ulster players have taken a hit. A few big showings in Europe over the coming weeks would have done the likes of Shane Delahunt, Paul Boyle, Jordi Murphy, John Cooney, Tom Daly, Alex Wootton and Mike Lowry no harm.
Which bring us to this weekend. Barring an ‘A’ fixture between Ulster and Leinster on Friday afternoon in Belfast, there will be no competitive fixtures across the country.
It begs the question, have the IRFU missed a trick here? Given the lack of games leading into the Six Nations, this Saturday would have been the perfect opportunity to stage an old- school ‘Probables’ v ‘Possibles’ game at Aviva Stadium.
Heck, they could have televised it and acquired a huge audience on free-to-air for good measure.
These fixtures were all the rage back in the old days.
New Zealand staged a North Island v South Island game behind closed doors in Wellington back in September and both teams served up a thriller, with the South prevailing 38-35. There were sub- plots and head- to-heads aplenty, including Richie Mo’unga v Beauden Barrett at No10. The highlights are well worth a look on YouTube.
The Ireland squad often have fullcontact games — and often use the U20 squad as opposition in training — but making it a trial match along with the added intrigue of playing it out in front of a massive TV audience would crank it up a notch.
And there would be no shortage of fascinating match-ups.
It stands to reason that the majority of Ireland’s starting lineup from their last win over Scotland in November will be back on duty against Wales next month. Iain Henderson remains a doubt with a knee injury but the other 22 players who secured a 31-16 victory in Dublin that day should be banging on the door for selection again.
Cian Healy, Andrew Porter, James Ryan, Peter O’Mahony, CJ Stander and James Ryan would all be safe best to start in the pack while Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw, Keith Earls and Hugo Keenan are virtually nailed-on as well.
How about the ‘ Possibles?’ Imagine a pack featuring Dave Kilcoyne, Ultan Dillane, Rhys Ruddock and Gavin Coombes. They would certainly fancy a cut off the supposed frontliners. A backline featuring Cooney, Stuart McCloskey, Chris Farrell, James Lowe and Shane Daly would be worth a watch.
Perhaps Paul O’Connell — in his new role as forwards coach — could take charge of that team? The former Munster and Ireland captain wouldn’t be long building a siege mentality among that squad.
No doubt, Farrell and his coaching team would have learned plenty from an experience like that.
It would have provided a muchneeded boost for fans and, most importantly, it would not have breached any Covid restrictions. A win-win on all fronts and a real shame that the IRFU failed to think outside the box on this one.