The opening race of day two at the Cheltenham Festival, the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices' Hurdle was won by the Gordon Elliott-trained Envoi Allen, who remains unbeaten following his latest facile victory.
Racing in mid-division throughout in the hands of Davy Russell, the six-year-old didn't miss a beat throughout the contest.
It wasn't long before the pair took closer order before the turn in, and Russell's mount was soon clear on the run in before securing a four and a quarter length victory over Easywork.
It was a notable results for pointing graduates, with eight of the first nine horses home emerging from between the flags in Ireland with Envoi Allen having won a four-year-old maiden at Ballinaboola in 2018 for Colin Bowe and Barry O'Neill in 2018.
It was a notable results for pointing graduates, with eight of the first nine horses home emerging from between the flags in Ireland with Envoi Allen having won a four-year-old maiden at Ballinaboola in 2018 for Colin Bowe and Barry O'Neill in 2018.
Winning in impressive fashion on that occasion, the then four-year-old subsequently changed hands for a whopping £400,000 to Tom Malone before joining the Gordon Elliott stable, where he has remained unbeaten in all eight starts.
After the success Elliott said: "I was nervous the whole way through the race - I watched it with Colin (Bowe), who trained him to win a point-to-point. I was asking him the whole way 'Will he stay? Will he stay?' and he said that he would definitely stay no bother. If I had picked the wrong race, I was going to blame him.
"This was the big one for the week. He is the people's horse and everyone wanted him to win. He is eight from eight now. I thought Davy had given them too much lead coming down the hill but he knew the horse well - he does what he has to. The horse jumped and stayed.
"He stays, he jumps and was bought to be a three-mile chaser. I think that is what he is going to be, but we will have to discuss next season with his owners. We have a few nice novices, and this one will go to Punchestown.
"In fairness, Colin recommended the horse strongly and a big shout to Tom Malone, who bought the horse. It's a big team effort. We are going to enjoy today and see what happens.
"Easywork is a good horse and I wasn't surprised he ran so well."
