Gordon Elliot Launches Assault For 5th Troytown Chase

The Troytown is the big race at Navan this afternoon and Gordon Elliott has assembled a large team in his quest to win the valuable €100,000 contest for a fifth year in a row.

Champion owners Gigginstown House will share most of Elliott’s hopes but it is actually a Gigginstown runner trained in Meath but not by Elliott that is preferred to come out on top here.

Meade can land the honours

Gigginstown have changed the role of Mouse Morris to now have the Grand National winning trainer responsible for their young point-to-point stock but it is an ex-graduate of his, Tout Est Permis, who could be open to more improvement in a race like this.

Tout Est Permis is the youngest runner in the field and won on his first start for Noel Meade at Galway.
The grey has a lovely racing weight in this and ran well in a number of races as a novice last year and although he got a 10lbs hike for that Galway win he is young enough to be open to much more improvement.

This is a wide open competitive as you would expect for this sort of money and at a bigger price Eight Till Late could be a horse that runs well at a big price despite only running on Thursday.

Of the Elliott trained squad Rogue Angel is the most consistent and could be the best of them but it is the yellow Gigginstown cap of Tout Est Permis that is the one to keep an eye out for and hopefully he’ll come out on top under Sean Flanagan.

Lynch going to War

Andrew Lynch was among the winners at Gowran Park yesterday and looks to have a good ride on Warnaq in the 2m handicap hurdle(1.30 Navan). Fit from a mixed campaign on the flat and a run over hurdles last month, Warnaq looks well enough treated to win a handicap of this nature.

The four-year-old won at Naas over 10 furlongs earlier this month and has ran well off her rating over hurdles.
Matthew Smith’s charge is fairly consistent and seems quite adaptable ground wise having won on heavy ground over a mile at Navan earlier this year.

The likely favourite here is Gordon Elliott’s Western Honour but on the basis of his first run for Elliott he looks to have a small bit more to find.

Warnaq was dropped in over hurdles at Fairyhouse last time and made a mistake a bad time but still wasn’t beaten that far in a race where Mandarin Monarch dead heated with Toor General and the former has won again since so the form looks solid.

Recommended bets
Warnaq (3/1) – Navan 1.30
Tout Est Permis (10/1) – Navan 2.30

*Prices correct at time of publication