Gerri Colombe set to top small but select field for Down Royal’s rescheduled Grade One feature

It’s “as you were” at this point for Saturday’s rescheduled first Grade One of the National Hunt season at Down Royal with Gerri Colombe likely to top a small but select field.

Last weekend’s €150,000 Ladbrokes Champion Chase had to be cancelled when torrential rainfall left Down Royal waterlogged ahead of its biggest meeting of the year.

The two-day festival fixture starts a week late this Friday and the following day’s Grade One feature has the same original half-dozen entries left in it after the latest acceptance stage.

Gerri Colombe is joined by a trio of other Gordon Elliott-trained hopefuls, including Conflated, while Henry de Bromhead has left in both last year’s winner Envoi Allen and Minella Indo.

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De Bromhead indicated last week that Minella Indo might skip the race while expressing concern about very testing ground conditions for Envoi Allen.

However, the going at Down Royal on Tuesday was yielding to soft, which might encourage hopes that Envoi Allen could try to defend his title.

Elliott has already said he will stick to his Down Royal plan for Gerri Colombe, who’s likely to be joined by Conflated and possibly Delta Work. The Galway Plate winner Ash Tree Meadow has an alternative engagement in a Grade Two on Saturday.

“It doesn’t change my plans. He [Gerri Colombe] will head to Down Royal, then probably on to Christmas before we hopefully get to Cheltenham in March,” Elliott has reported. “I just feel Down Royal is the right place for him to start.”

Once again, Willie Mullins declined to take up the Grade One option at Down Royal with one of his team. However, the champion trainer is set to tackle Sunday’s Grade Three Barberstown Castle Chase at Naas in some strength.

He has half of the eight entries for the two-mile contest with and can pick from the quartet of Sir Gerhard, Dysart Dynamo, Saint Roi and Dinoblue.

Sunday’s Beginners’ Chase could also see Gaelic Warrior’s first start over fences, although also in the mix is Fact To File, runner-up to A Dream To Share in the Cheltenham Bumper, who is being sent straight over the bigger obstacles.

Before that, the dual-Ryanair Chase winner Allaho will make his eagerly anticipated return to action at Clonmel on Thursday.

Allaho hasn’t been seen in action since winning the 2022 Punchestown Gold Cup and missed all of last season with injury, including a bleed on his spleen. He is set to take on just three opponents in the Clonmel Oil Chase including his stable companion Janidil.

In other news, trainer John McConnell has outlined plans to target Mahler Mission at next month’s Coral Gold Cup at Newbury after an encouraging return to action at Carlisle over the weekend.

“That [Coral Gold Cup] is the plan – left-handed, nice trip for him and at the minute he’s got a nice weight (10.10.) I would imagine the weights could go up a little bit, but anything under 11st would be a lovely racing weight and it looks an obvious target for him,” McConnell said.