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Allen knuckles down well to take Grade 2 prize

Envoi Allen and Jamie CoddEnvoi Allen and Jamie Codd
© Photo Healy Racing

Envoi Allen was made to work as he maintained his unbeaten record in the Grade 2 Matheson INH Flat Race at Leopardstown and gave trainer Gordon Elliott a treble on the card.

Jamie Codd tracked the leaders on the 4/6 favourite before sending him to the front with half a mile to run in the two-miler.

The Cheveley Park-owned gelding knuckled down well as the pack chased in the straight, asserting close home for a length-and-a-quarter success over Meticulous

There was drama inside the final furlong as Abacadabras who was pressing the eventual winner, crashed out through the rail but luckily he and Lisa O'Neill were unscathed.

Elliott said afterwards:- “He's a nice horse. Jamie said he couldn't pull him up, he said it was the start of the back straight before he could pull him up.

“He looks a very exciting horse. He's obviously in the Cheltenham bumper and I'll have to talk to the owners.

“He could have been very vulnerable there today on a track like that but he showed that he's a good horse.

“He's a galloper and he wanted to get him into a rhythm early, we didn't want to force him from flag-fall. He got into a nice rhythm and he was very good.

“I think the horse that went through the rail is going to be a nice horse as well.”

Codd added:- “He’s a beautiful specimen of a horse. He won his point-to-point this time last year in Ballinaboola. He’s 17 hands and is just a monster of a horse.

“What you are going to see from this horse in the next couple of years is going to be incredible. He’s lovely to jump and is very exciting.

“I don’t know (if he’s good enough to win at Cheltenham). All you can do is win and he’s won three bumpers. I said to Gordon each of the days (he’s won) you would want to see where he’s pulled up. That for me is the sign of a good horse when they gallop out through the line and don’t want to be pulled up.”

Boylesports went 4/1 from 5/1 about the winner for the Cheltenham Bumper while Paddypower left him unchanged on 6/1.

(Additional reporting by Alan Magee)

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.