Gordon Elliott 'thrilled' to stick with original Envoi Allen plan at Cheltenham

Gordon Elliott is thrilled to be sticking to the original plan for Envoi Allen as he believes the Ballymore has always been the right race for his unbeaten novice at the Cheltenham Festival.

After walking the track early on Sunday morning, Elliott found the ground to be better than expected and therefore ruled out any chance of Envoi Allen switching to the Supreme. The news has seen the Cheveley Park-owned novice harden into 5-4 favourite for the Ballymore on Wednesday.

Elliott said: "I walked the track early this morning and it's not as bad as I expected at all. The one worry I had all along for Envoi Allen was a slog on heavy ground in the Ballymore. But it's probably what we would call yielding to soft ground in Ireland, the sun is shining and the wind is blowing hard so it's drying out.

"I've said all along I think the Ballymore is the race which would suit Envoi Allen best so I'm thrilled that's where we're going. He seems to be in great form and I'm looking forward to the race."

Ballymore Novices' Hurdle card

News that the ground is not as soft as expected will be music to the ears of Abacadabras fans and Elliott says conditions should not pose too much of a problem for the Grade 1-winning novice in the Supreme.

The trained said: "Abacadabras should be fine on the ground, especially if the wind keeps blowing and the sun keeps shining. I can't say he wouldn't handle really soft ground, but he's got plenty of pace so I would imagine the better the ground the better his chance would be."

The going is currently soft on both the Old and the New courses after 4mm of rain fell overnight on Saturday.

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Sky Bet have a money-back as cash offer available on the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, for full details click here. You still get this offer when betting through the Racing Post app so there's no need to switch apps.