Another Envoi Allen victory on Saturday will reinforce the influence of Irish point-to-point model

Envoi Allen (right) gets up on the stands' side from Hewick in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal on Saturday

Envoi Allen: bidding for back-to-back Champion Chase wins at Down RoyalCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

There is a notable gear change in the Irish jumps season on Saturday afternoon when Down Royal hosts the BetVictor Champion Chase, the first Grade 1 of the new campaign.

Twelve months ago Envoi Allen's heartwarming victory was the first of 27 top-level races to fall the way of Irish point-to-point graduates.

The 11-year-old will once again take his chance as he goes in search of his tenth victory in Grade 1 company, seven and a half years since he made a winning start to his career in a Ballinaboola four-year-old maiden for Colin Bowe.

If successful, it would be the fourth year in a row that the first Grade 1 of the season has been claimed by a pointing graduate. These big-race successes remain an important way of emphasising the calibre of talent emerging from the sphere each season, and its importance in the wider National Hunt ecosystem.

That influence has certainly not been lost on the BHA. When unveiling its 2026 fixture list, it also announced a bonus series for British point-to-pointing, as a means of trying to improve the number and quality of British horses in training, and to hopefully replicate the system that exists in Ireland.

In order to begin building that, £250,000 has been pledged to the initiative, which will see 15 four- and five-year-old maiden races have a bonus attached to them within the British point-to-point season.

If the winner of these races goes on to win under rules in the following two seasons, connections will receive £25,000 if the horse is bred in Britain, and £15,000 if the horse is bred elsewhere.

This is a significant initiative from the BHA, which has clearly identified that the Irish model of producing young horses through the point-to-point sphere is a path worth pursuing. At the same time Britain is endorsing the work that is being done here.

A big-race success tomorrow for the likes of Envoi Allen, Found A Fifty, or Affordale Fury would once again reinforce the influence that ex-Irish pointers will have in the months ahead.