Envoi Allen Impresses in Pilates-Style Flat Work Before Cheltenham

Horse Racing Ireland released video of Envoi Allen performing specialised flat work ahead of the Cheltenham Festival, the footage described in the release as “like rugby players doing Pilates.” Trainer Henry de Bromhead turned that image into a plan: “He’s going to have his last hurrah in the Gold Cup, that’s what we’ve agreed and we’re really looking forward to it - he’ll go straight there.”

De Bromhead detailed who oversees the dressage-style sessions at his yard, naming Emily Kate Robinson: “We have Emily Kate (Robinson) with us, and she does dressage with our horses: flat work that I’d compare to the likes of Ryan Giggs or Johnny Sexton doing pilates. It’s all about trying to maintain them and keeping them as agile as you possibly can.” He framed the work as part of a broader policy of careful management: “We don’t tend to run those horses a huge number of times a year either. We might run those Grade One horses maybe four or five times a season.”

That maintenance approach ties directly to Envoi Allen’s schooling and temperament. De Bromhead said of the gelding, “You could loose-school him in the indoor school and he’s like a three-year-old going round. He just loves the game.” He added a measure of wonder at the horse’s attitude: “He’s unbelievable, how much he enjoys it all.” Independent commentary has underlined the same point: “Envoi Allen is quite an intelligent horse and he only does enough. He looks after himself and keeps impressing.”

Envoi Allen’s Festival résumé bolsters de Bromhead’s confidence. The horse has been to every Cheltenham Festival since 2019 and has won there three times, including the 2019 Champion Bumper and the 2020 Turners Novices’ Hurdle, and he “struck Ryanair gold two years ago,” with a defence producing a runner-up finish to Protektorat “12 months ago.” AtTheRaces summarised his current-season preparation: “The eight-year-old has run only twice this season, finishing second at Tramore on New Year’s Day before coming home fifth behind Galopin Des Champs in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown.”

De Bromhead is realistic about the opposition he will meet at Prestbury Park. Speaking ahead of entries he said, “He ran really well in the Irish Gold Cup and will improve from that run. Obviously, Galopin Des Champs is very good; he’ll be really hard to beat but we hope our lad could run into a place or even better than that.” Monty’s Star is named alongside Envoi Allen as one of de Bromhead’s leading entries for the Festival, with Monty’s Star and Envoi Allen set to head the yard into battle.

The preparation footage and the campaign plan sit inside a wider picture of a small jumps operation punching above its weight. Owners and commentators have celebrated the yard’s recent high-level results alongside stars such as A Plus Tard and Allaho; as one yard voice put it, “We have to pinch ourselves at having two horses of that calibre, not to mention A Plus Tard, Allaho and the others. Owners dream of just having a runner at Cheltenham, so for a relatively small jumps operation like ours - we are not like ‘JP’ or Gigginstown - to have two winners, two years running, has been very exciting.”

There is a discrepancy in published profiles over Envoi Allen’s age—AtTheRaces refers to him as the eight-year-old while an earlier feature described him as “only six”—but the immediate picture is clear: de Bromhead has kept Envoi Allen fresh with pilates-style flat work under Emily Kate Robinson and will send him straight to Cheltenham with the Gold Cup earmarked as his finale.