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'He's incredible' - the rise, fall and rise again of the enigmatic Envoi Allen

Envoi Allen and Rachael Blackmore after winning the Ladbrokes Champion Chase
Envoi Allen and Rachael Blackmore after winning the Ladbrokes Champion ChaseCredit: Patrick McCann

For a winner of seven Grade 1s, Envoi Allen does not half get some stick. The scoffing has not reached the level aimed at Samcro but it has headed in that direction and a lacklustre run in the Ladbrokes Champion Chase would have opened the door to further ridicule.

You see, the eight-year-old's exam papers cannot be marked in the same way as other students. When you look like he does and fail to get a single question wrong in your first 11 assignments, excellence will always be expected. The reason he has come under such scrutiny is because we had all become so used to perfection.

Ever since he met the fourth fence all wrong in the Marsh Novices' Chase at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival and came down, we have seen flaws in him we never knew existed. That fall when 4-9 was followed by a deplorable effort at Punchestown, where he was pulled-up and, while he started last season with a bit of a bang in the Grade 2 chase for second-season novices on this very Down Royal card, he was then a badly beaten favourite in the John Durkan behind Allaho.

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Deputy Ireland editor

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