Paul Townend’s chance booking turned into Grade 1 glory at Down Royal on Saturday as Haiti Couleurs made virtually all the running to win the BetVictor Remembering Envoi Allen Champion Chase, the first top-level race of the Irish National Hunt season.
The nine-year-old, trained in Wales by Rebecca Curtis, was sent off at 8-1 and pulled four and three-quarter lengths clear of Fleur In The Park, with Banbridge third. Gordon Elliott’s Romeo Coolio, the 11-8 favourite, was a long way back in fourth, beaten 28 lengths, according to Sporting Life.
How the race unfolded
The three-mile contest was always going to have a tactical feel. Morning-line favourite Heart Wood was taken out beforehand, leaving a small field on ground that had already produced a string of non-runners because it was quick. Two fences in the home straight were also bypassed because of low sun, leaving the runners with a long run-in.
Haiti Couleurs set off in front with Banbridge for company, and Townend never looked back. Banbridge weakened before the elbow, and Romeo Coolio was the first of the main contenders under pressure about two furlongs out, The 42 reported. Fleur In The Park kept on for second but could not land a blow.
It was a first win in the race for Townend, who was on board because the horse’s usual rider, Sean Bowen, was in action at Wetherby. Townend noted that the Down Royal race is not usually a target for his boss Willie Mullins, who had no runner, so he was glad to take the chance.
A first Grade 1 for a proven stayer
Haiti Couleurs already had a big-race CV, having won at the Cheltenham Festival and landed both the Irish and Welsh Grand Nationals. But this was his first victory at Grade 1 level, and it came in a race carrying the name of Envoi Allen, the popular former winner of the contest whom the meeting remembered on Saturday.
Curtis described the reception afterwards as “absolutely amazing”. Townend called the winner a galloper who goes well fresh, while warning that he could be a tricky horse to plan a campaign around.
Elliott rethinks Romeo Coolio
There was disappointment for Elliott. Speaking to Sporting Life, the Cullentra trainer said Romeo Coolio had flattened out and that he did not believe the horse truly stays three miles. Elliott indicated the gelding would probably not continue in Grade 1 company and that a different route would be explored.
Across the Irish Sea, Pic d’Orhy, now trained by Dan Skelton after leaving Paul Nicholls in the summer, won Wetherby’s Charlie Hall Chase as the 10-11 favourite, The 42 reported, with the Skelton stable filling the first three places.
Pic d’Orhy’s win was notable in its own right. The 42 reported that he is only the second 11-year-old to win the Charlie Hall, and the first since 1989, while Handstands and Riskintheground completed a one-two-three for Skelton. For his owner, the summer switch of stables could hardly have got off to a better start.
Back at Down Royal, the result was also a reminder of how open Ireland’s staying chase division looks before the Mullins big guns return. A Welsh-trained horse coming over and taking the first Grade 1 of the season, at 8-1 and ridden by Ireland’s champion jockey, is exactly the kind of twist that makes the early jumps season so watchable.
What happens next
Curtis told Sporting Life she thinks the Denman Chase at Newbury would suit Haiti Couleurs, and that the team could target the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at Auteuil at the end of the season. No decision has been announced on whether he will be aimed at the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
For Irish punters, the result shakes up the early staying chase picture. With Mullins having skipped Down Royal, his big guns are yet to appear, and the next major Irish clashes come over the Christmas period.
Sources
- Sporting Life: Haiti Couleurs grinds out victory in Champion Chase at Down Royal (31 October 2026)
- The 42: Paul Townend teams up with Haiti Couleurs to win Down Royal showpiece (31 October 2026)
Featured image: Down Royal Racecourse – geograph.org.uk – 1415425 by HENRY CLARK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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