Love Envoi © Photo Healy Racing
Love Envoi bids to take the Coolmore N.H. Sires Mogul Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle crown back to Britain for the second year in succession on the final day of the Punchestown Festival.
Unsurprisingly the two-and-a-half-mile Grade One has been dominated in recent years by Willie Mullins, with the champion trainer landing seven of the last 10 editions.
However, Nicky Henderson’s Marie’s Rock ensured victory went to the raiding party 12 months ago and Love Envoi is rightly the hot favourite for Saturday’s renewal, having finished best of the rest behind the brilliant but now retired Honeysuckle in the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
The seven-year-old’s trainer Harry Fry has a good record at Punchestown, with dual Champion Stayers Hurdle hero Unowhatimeanharry among several previous winners for his team at the Festival, and the Dorset handler has high hopes of adding to his tally this weekend.
He said: “Love Envoi arrived safely on Thursday morning, Punchestown has been a lucky festival for us and we’re looking forward to taking our chance.
“She ran a great race at Cheltenham. We’re obviously taking on horses she beat that day, but we’re not taking anything for granted.
“She’s going to have to turn up and run her race. Hopefully she has a good chance.”
With Love Envoi’s regular partner Jonathan Burke sidelined by a broken arm suffered in a fall in the Grand National at Aintree, Fry had booked Mark Walsh to take over in the saddle.
However, Walsh is now required to partner Epatante for his retaining owner JP McManus, meaning Danny Mullins instead comes in for the plum ride aboard the market leader.
“It’s been a bit of a jockey merry-go-round, but in the end we’ve managed to get Danny Mullins, with Johnny sadly on the sidelines. Hopefully it all goes well,” Fry added.
The Henderson-trained Epatante, who was third behind stablemate Marie’s Rock last season and has spent much of the current campaign chasing the shadow of Seven Barrows superstar Constitution Hill.
She was, however, a long way behind Love Envoi at Cheltenham and has since finished a well-beaten fourth in the Aintree Hurdle.
“She’s been a little disappointing recently, but it will be her last run of the season so we’ll see how she gets on,” said McManus’ racing manager, Frank Berry.
“She has to come back to her best form to have a chance.”
The home team is headed by the Mullins trio of Echoes In Rain Brandy Love and Shewearsitwell who finished fourth, fifth at ninth in the Mares’ Hurdle and therefore need to find improvement.
“Echoes In Rain could be a difficult ride over two and a half miles but ratings-wise, she would look the one for that, with Love Envoi the biggest challenge,” said Mullins.
“In the same race, Brandy Love would probably prefer to go left-handed but I think she’ll improve a good bit on her Cheltenham run.”
The Gordon Elliott-trained Queens Brook split Love Envoi and Echoes In Rain when third at the Festival and is also in the mix once more.
Elliott said: “She’s been great since Cheltenham. She’s had a good season and ran a terrific race at Cheltenham in a top-class edition of the race.
“She’s in great order and we’re looking forward to running her.”
John McConnell ’s outsider Anna Bunina third when bidding for back-to-back wins in the Scottish Champion Hurdle at Ayr last weekend, completes the line-up.
Mullins appears to hold all the aces in the final Grade One of the meeting — the Ballymore Champion Four Year Old Hurdle. Lossiemouth and Gala Marceau are the clear standard setters after finishing first and second in a one-two-three-four for Mullins in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham.
“We haven’t missed much with Lossiemouth season — Christmas, Dublin Racing Festival, Cheltenham. That’s a lot on a filly and she’s not the biggest filly in the world but she has a huge constitution so hopefully, we ask for just one more day,” said the Closutton handler.
“There’s no reason to say that she won’t give it. She’s just so laid back, I don’t think racing or anything fazes her or takes too much out of her. She’s really top class.”
Mullins also fields Cinsa and Zarak The Brave with the latter considered no forlorn hope on what is his first appearance since finishing second to Lossiemouth in a Grade Three at Fairyhouse in December.
Mullins added: “I think Zarak The Brave is a nice type. He showed a lot and then got a colic during the season and we had to put him to one side, but he’s a horse to keep an eye on.”
