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Cheltenham Festival winner Love Envoi tops a strong entry of 23 horses for the Grade 1 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle Championship Final on Easter Sunday, April 17th, the middle day of the Fairyhouse Easter Festival.
The Harry Fry-trained six-year-old stretched her unbeaten run to six when landing the Grade 2 Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle this day last week and a trip across the Irish Sea is very much under consideration.
Fry said on Thursday: “The Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle has been very good to us in the past, Bitofapuzzle was our first Grade 1 winner when she won the race back in 2015 and Jessber's Dream was runner-up the following year.
“Noel Fehily rode them both and he heads up the syndicate that owns Love Envoi. She has had a fantastic campaign and came out of Cheltenham in good order.
“Fairyhouse is a definite option for us and we will make a decision as to where we go next in a week or so.”
Strong opposition
Should Love Envoi travel, she will again face strong opposition from Willie Mullins who is responsible for 13 of the 23 entries for the €100,000 event.
Grangee fared best of the Closutton team in the Ryanair Mares' Novices' Hurdle with a third-place finish, with Braganza in fifth, Hors Piste in eighth place and race favourite Dinoblue home in ninth position.
The Mullins team could also include Brandy Love which missed the Cheltenham race when found to be lame at the 11th hour. She had previously finished runner-up to her own stable companion Allegorie De Vassy in the Grade 3 BetVictor Solerina Mares Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse.
The Colm Murphy-trained Impervious and Gordon Elliott’s Party Central are others that could renew Cheltenham Festival rivalry with Love Envoi. The Joseph O'Brien-trained Lunar Display and Con O’Keeffe’s hat-trick seeker Kilbarry Chloe are other notable entries.
Gold Cup Novice Chase
There are also 23 entries for the Grade 1 Fairyhouse Gold Cup Novice Chase and a potential box-office rematch between the Willie Mullins-trained Galopin Des Champs and Henry de Bromhead's Bob Olinger is on the cards with both horses heading a stellar early line up that also includes Cheltenham Festival first and second, Stattler and Run Wild Fred.
Bob Olinger was left clear to win the Grade 1 Turners Novices' Chase by the final fence exit of Galopin Des Champs while Stattler, another trained by Willie Mullins, saw off the Gordon Elliott-trained Run Wild Fred for a more hard-fought success in the National Hunt Challenge Cup Amateur Jockeys' Novices' Chase.
The Gavin Cromwell-trained Gabynako might also renew rivalry with Mullins' Blue Lord as the pair finished second and third respectively in the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham.
Other entries from the champion trainer include recent winners Blue Sari, Egality Mans and Shadow River, and Gaillard Du Mesnil, third in last week's Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. Beacon Edge and Master McShee, Grade 1 winners for Noel Meade and Paddy Corkery respectively, are also entered.
Peter Roe, general manager of Fairyhouse Racecourse, said, “Hot on the heels on a high-quality entry for the BoyleSports Irish Grand National earlier this week, we are very excited about today's entries for our Easter Festival Grade 1 races.
“Harry Fry knows what it takes to win the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Novice Hurdle and we'd love to see him bidding for a second success in the race with his thoroughly impressive Cheltenham Festival winner.
"The entry for the Fairyhouse Gold Cup is top-class to say the least and is set to bring together the very best of what looks to be an extremely strong novice chasing division.”
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