Henry de Bromhead outlines plans for his stable stars for the early part of the season including A Plus Tard, Envoi Allen and Minella Times.
A PLUS TARD (Timeform rating 174)
"He’s in mighty form and worked really well the other day, so the plan is to go to the Betfair Chase. He was brilliant last season - I ran him in the Fortria Chase (at Navan) for his first start over two miles and he was beaten, but he sort of fooled me because he’d beaten Chacun Pour Soi the previous year over that trip.
"Looking at the re-run of the 2020 Ryanair Chase he looked as though he was staying on at the end of that race and his owners Cheveley Park agreed to give him a go over three miles. He was brilliant in the Savills Chase and there was no question over his stamina at Cheltenham.
"He’s an amazing horse - to win a Grade One over two miles and a Grade One over three is something that not many horses do and he’s still only seven, so he’s improving all the time."
"I don’t think we have had a runner at Haydock Park but we were there in the Irish bubble for Aintree and I was amazed how tight it was – I hadn’t pictured that at all. It’s a lovely track and he certainly suits going left-handed.
“I think the fact that he prefers going left-handed means we’ll stay in Ireland over Christmas for the Savills and if everything goes well I’d imagine we’d start in the Betfair, aim for the Savills and go straight for the Gold Cup, so long as we maintain their form."
BALKO DES FLOS (156)
“He’s going to go to Cheltenham next week for the Cross Country Chase and we’ll see after that. I think we may just stick to Cross Country races with him through the season, but the Becher Chase at Aintree is in the back of my mind.
“He had the class for the Grand National and Rachael came in fuming at Cheltenham as he was flying and loving it, so there was always a good chance that he would take to it. With any of them it’s so unpredictable and you just don’t know until you go and thankfully with him he delivered.”
ENVOI ALLEN (164p)
"We tried to change things as little as possible heading to Cheltenham and perhaps he was too fresh. He seemed to just over-jump the fence and maybe that would have always happened, but he seemed brilliant and was buzzing heading into Punchestown – whatever way he hit that fence meant he was fracture lame after Cheltenham.
"Thankfully it wasn’t a fracture and we removed the chip and he had a normal summer. I suppose we’ve got to know him a bit more and haven’t really changed too much, he’s still a really good horse and I just think we were a bit luckless with him and it didn’t happen for us. He seemed to love jumping and galloping at the pace he did at Down Royal the other day which is interesting."
"I’m not sure if he’ll head to Kempton as he’s a second season novice, we’ll see with him. I know he’s maybe not your typical King George horse, but we’ll certainly weigh it up closer to the time.
"In terms of trip we’ll probably want to look at three miles at some point, but he’s got very solid form and a very high cruising speed. He jumps his fences quickly and he’s got lots of attributes of a two and a half mile horse, so it’s something we need to discuss with connections. We’ve never run him over three miles so we just don’t know if he will stay, but I’d say it’s something we’d want to find out soon."
MINELLA INDO (175)
"I’d say he’s highly likely to head to Kempton for the King George, but there’s also the option of the Savills. We’ll see how it goes - he came on plenty for Down Royal and caught me out a bit in that he was a bit shorter than I thought he was, but he still ran a cracker and fair play to the Nicholls team as Frodon was in great shape – we look forward to taking him on.”
MINELLA TIMES (155)
"We’ll probably enter him in some of those better graded races. He’s up to 159 in Ireland and 162 in England, so he’s up in those graded ratings so I’d say we’ll enter him for some of those better races and see how we fare with him.
"He’ll be entered for the John Durkan at Punchestown and he’ll possibly be ready for that, while there’s a conditions chase at Thurles at the end of this month as well, so the end of this month to early December is what we’re aiming for.
"He’s a high-rated horse and I think we will try these various conditions chases and see how we fare. He’s only really run in handicaps until now, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on. To be honest we’re just kind of seeing how it unfolds, so I wouldn’t like to make any predictions, but he’s a high-class horse.”
PUT THE KETTLE ON (158)
"She will go for the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham next week and is in mighty form. She just loves Cheltenham and I have no idea why. When you see her going round Leopardstown with a big open track and long straights she could never really get into her rhythm, whereas at Cheltenham she just loves it there for whatever reason and Aidan (Coleman) gets a fantastic tune out of her.
"I’d say her run at Sandown was perhaps one that just came at the end of a long season, but maybe the combination of real good ground over two miles doesn’t suit her. I’d say she needs softer ground to be seen to better effect, but maybe it was just Cheltenham – because she improved 12lbs with Chacun Pour Soi between Christmas and The Festival."
SPYGLASS HILL (146)
"He’s going to Aintree (for the Grand Sefton on Saturday) and has had a couple of good runs, he ran well in the Munster National the other day and we just thought that maybe the drop back in trip might suit him.
"Hugh (Morgan) gets a great tune out of him and it’s an excellent opportunity for him on Saturday. He’s been with us for years and he’s doing really well and I’m delighted for him that Niall O’Leary is giving him the opportunity and we’re looking forward to it."
