Commanding victory in strong Royal Bond means Envoi Allen could be real deal

Envoi Allen was the star turn on a fabulous card at Fairyhouse, for you would search long and hard for a deeper novice hurdle than the Royal Bond this side of the major spring festivals and yet he was faultless once again in yet another emphatic victory.

With eight of the nine runners already boasting Racing Post Ratings of 140 and more this was a Grade 1 in every sense, so the Champion Bumper winner had to be every bit as good as we hoped he was. If anything he was even better, and he will plainly take the beating in his chosen objective at Cheltenham.

A total professional on the track, though reportedly not quite so straightforward at home or in the preliminaries, Envoi Allen travelled easily on the front end from the start and appeared to jump impeccably bar the smallest of errors at the last.