ELLIOTT PLANS A SIXTH ASSAULT ON TROYTOWN

GORDON ELLIOTT has a remarkable strike rate at Navan in general, and more specifically in the prestigious Troytown Chase, and can land the Bar One Racing-sponsored renewal of the staying contest tomorrow with Frontal Assault.

The Cullentra handler won this valuable handicap four years in a row between 2014 and 2017 and was again on the mark last year when Run Wild Fred scored readily under Davy Russell. The veteran is on outsider Death Duty this time but Jack Kennedy is the man on board Frontal Assault, who is one of eight runners for Elliott.

Kennedy was a mere 16-year-old when guiding Riverside City to success in 2015 and last season’s Irish Grand National runner-up Frontal Assault can give him a second win in the race. That second to Lord Lariat was a fine run at Fairyhouse by the Presenting gelding on just his fifth start over fences and he got off the mark over the larger obstacles last month when beating last weekend’s Grade 2 winner Darrens Hope at Galway.

His mark, only 3lb higher than when second in the Irish

National, was left alone by the handicapper after that initial chase win and he can show the benefit of that seasonal debut at a course where he was a Grade 3 winner over hurdles last year.

He is a lazy individual but the application of blinkers in recent starts has helped and Kennedy is the perfect partner to keep him up to his work.

It’s a typically competitive renewal and dangers abound, with Velvet Elvis perhaps foremost amongst them. Tom Gibney’s charge was a progressive novice who snared a valuable handicap over course and distance in March before finishing sixth, around three lengths behind Frontal Assault in the Irish National. Although disappointing on his return in the Munster National at Limerick, that run may have been needed and he can give a much better account here. Munster National winner The Big Dog and Liz Doyle’s (inset) Flash De Touzaine, who jumped notably well when winning at Galway last month, are others with strong claims.