Envoi Allen can chalk one up for Ireland at Cheltenham Festival

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Envoi Allen horse racing news

will run in the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and looks like the Irish banker of the meeting. The winner of the Champion Bumper last season has had a faultless career so far which he can take to a new level by winning the Grade 1 hurdle over two miles and five furlongs for generally young and inexperienced horses. Envoi Allen is the +125 favourite with Bovada and should to Ireland's of winners at in March.

The is the awarded to the winner of the competition between Britain and Ireland for the most winning runners at the . There is no cup as such and it's an invention of the bookmakers to generate betting interest in a fairly insignificant battle. The competition was created in 2014 and the first sponsors were Betbright, online bookmakers who have since gone out of business.

At the time of writing there is no betting market, but our market would be +137.5 Britain and -149.99 Ireland. It could be a tie, so the draw is +700. The betting margin is 115%.

Here is the tally of Cheltenham Festival winners for Britain and Ireland over the last three years:

Year Britain Ireland
2017 9 19
2018 14 14
2019 11 17
34 50

The percentage split of winners since 2017 is Britain 40.48% and Ireland 59.52%. Those percentages equate to odds of about +150 and -149.99 in a two-runner 100% book. There are 28 races so it could be a draw, which was the final outcome in 2018.

Envoi Allen should put a winner on the board for Ireland. There was a suggestion that the horse is good enough to run in the , but connections have gone down the novice route and the Ballymore race.

Here are some 10-year trends for the winners of the opening contest on the second day of Cheltenham:

• 10 aged five or six.
• 10 rated within eight pounds of the Racing Post Ratings top-rated.
• 10 with an adjusted RPR of 152 or higher.
• Nine finished first or second in all hurdle races.
• Eight won a Graded hurdle.

So let's examine how much Envoi Allen fits into that profile. The horse is a six-year-old that is rated 152 and three pounds behind the potential top-rated runner. Envoi Allen has a perfect record of seven wins from seven races (three hurdles, four bumpers). His most recent win was a Grade 1 hurdle at Naas in January. Envoi Allen ticks all the boxes and should not be opposed. The horse is hugely talented and, even at a shade of odds-against, is the horse to back.

Envoi Allen is many punters' nap of the meeting and that is reflected in the price. The horse accounts for 44.44% of the Ballymore market, which means the field is odds-on. However, Envoi Allen has too much in his favour not to be tipped, so there are two payout places up for grabs. Each-way bets are settled at one-fifth the odds for three places, but some bookmakers may offer enhanced terms on the day of the race.

The Big Breakaway is a horse with the potential to make the frame. The last 10 winners of the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle started their career in Irish points and the Big Breakaway easily won his only race in that sphere. The horse is a good jumper and has the potential to win at the highest level. He has run in two novice hurdles and won both by a combined distance of 15 lengths. The horse has a career RPR of 145 so must improve to get in the Ballymore mix. Beating Envoi Allen may be beyond The Big Breakaway, but he can reward each-way backers by finishing second or third behind a winning favourite for the Irish contingent.

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