Home Sport Racing Envoi Allen tribute race: Paul Townend’s shock spare ride on Haiti Couleurs as Mullins sits out Down Royal’s €160,000 Champion Chase

Envoi Allen tribute race: Paul Townend’s shock spare ride on Haiti Couleurs as Mullins sits out Down Royal’s €160,000 Champion Chase

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October 31, 2026October 31, 2026
Down Royal Racecourse

The jumps season in Ireland gets its first Grade 1 of the winter this afternoon, and it comes with a lump in the throat. Down Royal’s Champion Chase, run at 3.15pm, carries a new name this year: the BetVictor Remembering Envoi Allen Champion Chase, in honour of the horse who made the County Antrim track his own.

Seven runners go to post over three miles for a guaranteed prize fund of €160,000, with €94,240 to the winner, according to the Racing Post racecard. And there is a twist in the saddle: Paul Townend, Willie Mullins’s stable jockey, is riding for a British yard because his boss has no runner in the race.

A race renamed for a Down Royal legend

Down Royal announced in September that its feature would be renamed after Envoi Allen, who died at Cheltenham earlier this year. The Henry de Bromhead-trained star ran seven times at the course and won the Champion Chase three times, in 2022, 2024 and 2025. His final Grade 1 success there came on 1 November last year.

Announcing the change, Down Royal chief executive Emma Meehan said Envoi Allen had held a truly unique place in the hearts of everyone at the racecourse. It is fitting, then, that de Bromhead has the market leader in today’s renewal.

Townend’s spare ride and the runners

Townend picks up the ride on Haiti Couleurs, trained by Rebecca Curtis, the winner of both the Irish and Welsh Grand Nationals. As the Racing Post reported, Sean Bowen, who had ridden the horse on his last seven starts, is required at Wetherby for Olly Murphy, while Mullins has nothing in the race. Curtis told the Racing Post that you could not get anyone better for a Grade 1.

Townend, writing for Betway, said Haiti Couleurs goes there with a definite chance and has good form when fresh, but he admitted he would like some rain and wondered whether the sharp downhill finish would suit. He has never won the race; his closest call came when Kemboy finished a couple of lengths behind Envoi Allen.

The rest of the field, per the Racing Post and Paddy Power’s runners guide:

Heart Wood (Henry de Bromhead / Darragh O’Keeffe): the Ryanair Chase winner and the market leader, quoted around 5/2 by Horseracing.net on Friday, though that tipster questioned his stamina over three miles.
Romeo Coolio (Gordon Elliott / Jack Kennedy): unbeaten in four chases over shorter trips but beaten in the Brown Advisory.
Banbridge (Joseph O’Brien / JJ Slevin): a 10-year-old who recently won on the Flat at Gowran Park, and the tentative Timeform pick according to Paddy Power.
Affordale Fury (Noel Meade / Sam Ewing): a Grade 1 winner at Leopardstown who chased home Envoi Allen in this race last year.
Fleur In The Park (Andrew Slattery / Cian Quirke): match-fit after winning the Danoli Chase at Gowran four weeks ago.
Croke Park (Gordon Elliott / Danny Gilligan): a dual Grade 1 novice winner who has disappointed in open company, and a big outsider.

Ground reports varied in the build-up. Horseracing.net said rain from Storm Boelo had left the ground yielding, while the Racing Post card listed the chase course as good, with watering. Punters should check the latest going before the off.

Mullins looks to Kentucky instead

For once, the champion trainer is a spectator at a major Irish jumps fixture. As The Irish Times reported this morning, Mullins’s focus is across the Atlantic, where Ethical Diamond, last year’s shock 28/1 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner at Del Mar, lines up again at Keeneland tonight with Dylan Browne McMonagle aboard. That race is due off at 9.36pm Irish time.

What happens next

The Champion Chase is the centrepiece of a seven-race card at Down Royal this afternoon and is shown live on ITV. The winner will instantly enter the conversation for the big staying chases of the winter, from Leopardstown at Christmas to the Cheltenham Festival in March. Tonight, Irish racing fans can switch to Keeneland to see whether Mullins can add another Breeders’ Cup prize to Aidan O’Brien’s record-breaking haul from Friday night.

Odds quoted are from the sources named at the time of publication and will change. Please gamble responsibly.

Sources

Featured image: Down Royal Racecourse – geograph.org.uk – 1415425 by HENRY CLARK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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