Fry taking patient approach with Love Envoi

New year return is the plan, followed by Mares’ Hurdle goal.

Love Envoi will not be seen until the new year, when her season will be centred around going one better than last year’s brave second at the Cheltenham Festival.

A winner of the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the Festival in 2022, a pair of taking victories at Sandown saw Harry Fry’s stable star head back to Prestbury Park full of confidence for a crack at the Mares’ Hurdle last March.

Sent off 11-1 in the hands of Johnny Burke, she came within a length and a half of back-to-back Cheltenham Festival triumphs as she eventually had to settle for a supporting role as Honeysuckle bowed out in fairytale fashion.

Love Envoi (right) pushed Honeysuckle all the way at the Cheltenham Festival
Love Envoi (right) pushed Honeysuckle all the way at the Cheltenham Festival (Tim Goode/PA)

Despite injuring herself in her next outing at Punchestown, Love Envoi is back in training with Fry at his Dorset base and although the handler is keen to take his time, another crack at the Mares’ Hurdle is firmly in his sights.

Fry said: “She went so close to the Mares’ Hurdle, running Honeysuckle all the way, and obviously the whole campaign is going to be geared around going one better in March.

“She picked up a nasty injury when disappointing at Punchestown when last seen, which is her only bad run of her career and obviously there was a reason for it.

Love Envoi and regular rider Johnny Burke
Love Envoi and regular rider Johnny Burke (Zac Goodwin/PA)

“She has made a full recovery out with Noel Fehily over the summer and he has pre-trained her and she’s just come back to us at the beginning of the month.

“She’s not going to be seen out until the new year I would have thought and it is still early stages with her, but we hope to have a clear run to March all being well.”

Love Envoi has been tentatively pencilled in to return in the same Sandown Listed event in which she recorded a 13-length success early in the year, while a similar contest at Warwick has been identified as another key stepping stone on the route to Prestbury Park.

“The races pick themselves for her and you have got the Sandown race she won last season in early January and then the Listed race at Warwick in February,” continued Fry.

“She was a non-runner in that last year because of the ground, but the programme is there for her and they are ideal prep races for the Mares’ Hurdle itself.”

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