WHERE do you stand on Envoi Allen? Superstar, over-hyped, or somewhere in between?

The handsome seven-year-old had his latest appearance in the Grade 2 Sky Bet Killiney Novice Chase at Punchestown on Sunday, and made it 11 wins out of 11 smoothly enough but by just three and a half lengths from Fils D’Oudairies after his apparent main rival, Asterion Forlonge, crashed out at the first.

As ever with races that have a small number of finishers, it is worth looking at what the clock tells you. A result can put you away on paper, but a good time is a good time, regardless.

Envoi Allen’s win came in a time 14.5s (about a furlong) quicker than that achieved by 105-rated handicapper Kristian Goingwel at the same distance later on, and that is an impressive margin even allowing for the wide disparities in abilities.

The former was around 30 lengths quicker from three out and about 12 lengths faster up the run-in for good measure.

The margin of victory in the race itself may have been relatively narrow, but it should be noted that Envoi Allen conceded 11lb all round and that Fils D’Oudairies is likely useful. In the end, I settled on a figure of 157 for the winner and 140 for the runner-up.

Envoi Allen can improve on that rating, but he will almost certainly have to. Besides anything else, we had a horse in similar circumstances run even faster than him at Naas a few days before.

That was Energumene, who beat Captain Guinness and two others impressively in a two-miler while recording a time 9.0s quicker than that achieved by 136-rated handicapper Epson Du Houx half an hour later.

That is an even more flattering comparison than Envoi Allen’s proved to be, and Energumene comes out at 159 on my figures, behind only Shishkin (169) and Allmankind (160) among novice chasers.

Given that Energumene’s spectacular win at Gowran Park the time before had been at two and a half miles, and that this Naas win came in a well-run race on heavy, the temptation may be to tackle Envoi Allen at around two and a half miles rather than the brilliant Shishkin at the minimum trip.

It would be unfair on Envoi Allen to say he is “over-hyped”, but he still has a few things to prove to be considered a superstar.

In my book, at least.