De Bromhead has high hopes King George will suit Envoi Allen

‘It is an iconic race and we feel very lucky to have him in it’.

Henry de Bromhead believes Envoi Allen possesses the tools required to make his presence felt in the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase.

The eight-year-old looked unbeatable after winning his first 11 starts for Gordon Elliott, a run which included successive Cheltenham Festival triumphs in the Champion Bumper and Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.

But Envoi Allen made it no further than the fourth fence when bidding for a Festival hat-trick in the Marsh Novices’ Chase on his first start for De Bromhead and results since have been mixed.

However, he proved he is far from a back number with a comeback victory in the Down Royal Champion Chase in October – his first foray over three miles – and De Bromhead is hopeful the demands of Kempton will bring out the best in his charge as he prepares for a tilt at the Boxing Day showpiece.

“Everything has been good. We decided we would go for the King George after Down Royal if it went well and thankfully it did,” said the County Waterford handler.

“He seems good and Rachael (Blackmore) schooled him this morning. We are happy with him and happy to give it a go.

“I hope this is a good spot for him. It is an iconic race and we feel very lucky to have him in it.

“The Thompson family (owners of Cheveley Park Stud) will be there and we are excited about it.”

Envoi Allen is a 7-1 shot with the race sponsors, making him fourth in the betting behind the Venetia Williams-trained L’Homme Presse and Paul Nicholls’ pair of Bravemansgame and Hitman.

De Bromhead saw his 2021 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Minella Indo pulled up in the King George 12 months ago, but he views Envoi Allen as a more suitable candidate.

He added: “It’s not for me to say what the betting should be, but we are happy with our horse and we are looking forward to the race.

“Minella Indo is a real dour stayer that loves Cheltenham. This didn’t seem to suit him last year whereas this guy jumps and has a real high cruising speed, so he seems a different type of horse.

“We will find out on the day and I might be wrong, but we feel he is the horse that should suit the race.”

Envoi Allen has been tried over a variety of trips, partly due to the fact Cheveley Park have two other chasing stars in his Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning stablemate A Plus Tard and Willie Mullins’ dual Ryanair Chase winner Allaho.

Henry de Bromhead at Fairyhouse
Henry de Bromhead at Fairyhouse (Brian Lawless/PA)

But it is clear that De Bromhead sees his future over longer distances – and while future plans are dependent on how Envoi Allen performs at Kempton, he is not ruling out the possibility of allowing him to join A Plus Tard in the Gold Cup in March.

De Bromhead said: “He was probably a bit disappointing in the John Durkan last year so we decided to drop him back in trip (to two miles). In fairness he won his Grade One at Christmas, then he was third in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

“To be honest if Allaho wasn’t around we would have probably headed for the Ryanair Chase last season. Cheveley Park already had A Plus Tard in the Gold Cup, but that seemed too big a step up in trip at the time so we decided to try the Champion Chase. Again he ran really well but it wasn’t his trip.

“That (Gold Cup) is a long way away. I wouldn’t call it a headache if it did happen to go that way but we have got a lot to do before that.”

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