Elliott returns to happy hunting ground with high hopes for Gerri Colombe

Gordon Elliott goes into the first Grade One weekend of the National Hunt season appearing to hold the best possible combination of quality and quantity.

In a ‘small is beautiful’ scenario for Saturday’s big race, Elliott’s best chasers, Gerri Colombe and Conflated, take on the Henry De Bromhead pair Envoi Allen and Minella Indo in a rescheduled €150,000 Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal that’s live on RTÉ1.

Elliott goes into Saturday on the back of a superb six-timer at the track on Friday where he came up just one race short of going through the card.

The Co Meath trainer has twice before been agonisingly close to such a feat, on both occasions at Navan. In 2016 he saddled a 41,276/1 six-timer at his local course while in 2021 Elliott had a remarkable seven winners on an eight-race fixture that paid 37,204/1.

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Having passed a ‘century’ of winners in Ireland this season, he has runners in all seven races again on Saturday, including in a big race that at one point, before the programme got delayed a week, shaped as if it might end up as his own private benefit.

However, the rescheduling forced by waterlogging has produced less onerous ground conditions and De Bromhead has opted to run both of his star performers.

With Willie Mullins notably not represented at all in Down Royal, such small but select fields could be a sign of what’s in store during the upcoming series of big-race weekends.

In the top Grade One races in particular, small-field sizes appear likely to be a recurring theme with connections plotting courses towards big festival targets in the Spring.

No one can accuse Elliott of fighting shy, though, and he saddles a massive weekend team of 32 runners over a trio of fixtures.

Gowran’s Saturday card has eight of them while another 11 are set for Naas on Sunday. However, the bulk of his attention is on a Down Royal fixture that he has targeted to huge effect over the years and with some of his brightest stars.

That includes four victories in the feature event over the last decade, including with his Gold Cup champion Don Cossack in 2015.

The man who first hit the Grade One mark 13 years ago has found Down Royal’s biggest race of the year anything but unlucky and once again will be looking at it through a Cheltenham Gold Cup perspective.

Elliott has made no secret of his ‘Blue Riband’ ambitions for Gerri Colombe who could be counted unlucky not to be still unbeaten.

Only a short head went against him in Cheltenham’s big novice event last March and he subsequently impressed when winning at Aintree.

Despite his stable companion finishing third to Galopin Des Champs in the Gold Cup itself last season, and being top-rated for Saturday’s feature, there’s no quibbling with Gerri Colombe’s status as stable No. 1 over Conflated.

As the youngest of the big-race quartet, expectations of improvement are legitimate, and the prospect of soft ground is ideal.

The same can’t really be said for either Envoi Allen or Minella Indo. The latter is ridden by Darragh O’Keeffe for the first time and the 2021 Gold Cup hero showed there’s plenty of fire left in him with a smooth comeback victory at Punchestown last month.

Rachael Blackmore will try to repeat her 2022 victory on Envoi Allen who disappointed on his own comeback at Gowran.

Envoi Allen boasts a perfect four from four career record at this Down Royal meeting, including when trained by Elliott.

His switch to De Bromhead by Cheveley Park Stud was one of the sorest points for Elliott on the back of his 2021 license suspension following the publication of notorious image that at one point threatened to derail his career.

The success of his return from that setback has been so smooth as to be almost presumed inevitable and if Envoi Allen was once the apple of Elliott’s eye, judged by his public comments that position has been taken over by Gerri Colombe.

Bookmakers already rate him the biggest threat to the Gold Cup title holder Galopin Des Champs and it won’t be just his trainer left disappointed if that status doesn’t get confirmed on Saturday.

“He looks strong, he’s in good form. He’s not a good work horse and doesn’t do anything very flash but he’s a typical big, staying chaser,” Elliott said on Friday.

Any further drying in the ground will suit the Galway Plate hero Ash Three Meadow in a later three-runner Grade Two chase while Down Memory Lane is an interesting contender in a maiden hurdle.

To expect similar domination for a second day running might be expecting too much. But in terms of numbers and calibre there’s no arguing with the seriousness of Elliott’s intent.

Gowran unexpectedly finds itself sharing the Saturday spotlight and has a morning start to its eight-race card. The Willie Mullins team are quickly into the mix at their local course with a pair of starters although Brandy Love is the most notable on her debut over fences.

Mullins is also represented at Aintree where Icare Allen lines up in a Pertemps Hurdle and other Irish interest revolves around the Paul Gilligan-rained Born By The Sea in the Grand Sefton Chase.

It is the first race of the season run over the renowned Grand National fences and Philip Enright teams up with a horse who belied 50-1 odds by finishing sixth to Corach Rambler in the National last April.