ENVOI CUTS TO THE CHASE
ENVOI ALLEN is “99 per cent certain” to switch from hurdles to fences this season, his trainer Gordon Elliott revealed yesterday.
Elliott left future plans up in the air after the six- yearold, winner of the Weatherbys Champion Bumper 12 months earlier, extended his unbeaten record to eight with a victory in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last March.
The cancellation of Aintree’s Grand National fixture and the Punchestown Festival denied Envoi Allen the opportunity to race again.
In the ante- post lists for Cheltenham 2021, the son of Muhtathir is as short as 8- 1 for the Unibet Champion
Hurdle – but heads the market for both the Marsh Novices’ Chase and the RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase.
Now Elliott plans to send Envoi Allen over the larger obstacles – the discipline that persuaded his owners, the Cheveley Park Stud, to part with £ 400,000 to purchase the horse after his success in a point- to- point in February 2018.
“The final decision hasn’t been made yet, but it’s 99 per cent certain he will go novice chasing,” Elliott said yesterday.
“He was bought to be a three- mile chaser. We haven’t schooled him over fences yet, but he’s won a point- topoint, so I don’t see that being a problem.”
Ladbrokes spokesman Jon Lees said: “Envoi Allen produced one of the standout performances of the 2019 Cheltenham Festival but Gordon Elliott was rather coy about how his star would be campaigned this term.
“We do have him in our Champion Hurdle betting at 10- 1, but he is also 3- 1 favourite for the Marsh Chase and 5- 1 favourite for the RSA.
“Now Gordon has confirmed his plans for Envoi Allen, we think the Marsh the more likely Festival target and if he performs over fences as well as he did over hurdles his odds are only going to go one way.”