Envoi Allen dominates the betting for the Ballymore
The Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle is a Grade 1 race that is the first race on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival.
Run over 2m5f a horse needs plenty of speed but also stamina to stay up the Cheltenham hill. The horses have 10 hurdles to navigate so a good round of jumping is essential if you want to be in with a chance rounding the bend.
City Island won last year’s renewal, battling off Champ in a thrilling finish, just staying on the stronger out of the two up to the finish line. Plenty of big names have won this in recent years, with none other than Faugheen winning in the 2014 edition and Yorkhill landing the spoils in 2016.
This year, it looks all about one horse, Envoi Allen. He is the 5/4 favourite to the race and looks imperious at the top of the market.
He boasts the perfect record in his career so far, with seven wins out of seven. He has beaten some seriously smart types in the process too. He easily beat Abacadabras at Fairyhouse in December, who is as short as short as 4/1 for the Supreme.
Gordon Elliott’s six-year-old form lines are staggeringly good, so many winners have come out from behind him and he just has the look of a star in the making. It would be no surprise to see him go off odds-on on the day.
If he is at his best then he will be extremely difficult to beat and it is still not entirely clear who will line up to take him on.
Asterion Forlonge (8/1), Shishkin (16/1) and Fiddlerontheroof (14/1) are all near the top of the market but all three of them could end up going for the Supreme, this may to be avoid Envoi Allen more than anything.
The Big Geteaway (10/1) is a contender for Willie Mullins who hacked up on Boxing Day at Leopardstown. He has good form behind Fiddlerontheroof from last season and if the ground has some ease it he could well be a big player.
Sporting John (20/1) is an interesting contender, he is unbeaten in his three starts so far, and stormed home by eight lengths on his latest outing. He is running on Sunday at Exeter with Barry Geraghty on board. He is well worth keeping an eye on should he go down this route and looks like a very good horse for Phillip Hobbs and owner JP McManus.
Whoever turns up will have a serious task on their hands trying to get the better of Envoi Allen. The Ballymore revolves around him this year and he will take all the beating.
Gordon Elliott could have a superstar on his hands, and there is no one you would rather steer one round Prestbury Park than the master Davy Russell.
Get more insight and previews for the Festival on our Cheltenham tips page.
