Down Royal Champion Chase 2026 Preview: Entries, Ground and TV

The race has a new name for 2026. Envoi AllenAdd Envoi Allen to the Horse Tracker won it three times for Henry de BromheadAdd H De Bromhead to the Horse Tracker, in 2022, 2024 and 2025, and collapsed and died after finishing ninth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March, on what was to be his final start. Down Royal's chief executive, Emma Meehan, told the Racing Post the course wanted to mark him and what he did at the track.

The entries

All carry 11st 10lb, with a 7lb allowance for mares. There is €160,000 in prize money, €94,240 of it to the winner.

Horse	Age	Trainer	Official rating
Affordale Fury	8	Noel Meade	167
Banbridge	10	Joseph Patrick O'Brien	166
Heart Wood	8	Henry de Bromhead	166
Fleur In The Park	7	Andrew Slattery	157
Romeo Coolio	7	Gordon Elliott	157
Stellar Story	9	Gordon Elliott	155
Croke Park	8	Gordon Elliott	148
Jacob's Ladder	7	Gordon Elliott	148
O'Toole	10	S R B Crawford	135
Haiti Couleurs	9	Rebecca Curtis	none shown

Entries from the Racing Post card on 27 October, before declarations. No jockeys are booked on the card yet.

Gordon ElliottAdd Gordon Elliott to the Horse Tracker trains four of them: Romeo CoolioAdd Romeo Coolio to the Horse Tracker, Stellar StoryAdd Stellar Story to the Horse Tracker, Croke ParkAdd Croke Park to the Horse Tracker and Jacob's LadderAdd Jacob's Ladder to the Horse Tracker, the last three for Gigginstown House Stud. Haiti CouleursAdd Haiti Couleurs to the Horse Tracker, for Rebecca CurtisAdd Rebecca Curtis to the Horse Tracker, is the only British-trained entry. O'TooleAdd O'Toole to the Horse Tracker, for S R B CrawfordAdd S R B Crawford to the Horse Tracker, is the lowest rated of those with a rating, on 135.

Four of the entries have won at the top level, and three of them meet on official ratings within a pound.

Heart Wood

Heart WoodAdd Heart Wood to the Horse Tracker won the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in March at 9/2, ten lengths clear of JonbonAdd Jonbon to the Horse Tracker, his first Grade 1 win. Darragh O'KeeffeAdd Darragh O'Keeffe to the Horse Tracker rode him for Henry de Bromhead and Robcour. He was third at Aintree on his only run since. De Bromhead has won this race four times in the last ten runnings, three of them with Envoi Allen.

Affordale Fury

Affordale FuryAdd Affordale Fury to the Horse Tracker is the top-rated entry on 167. He was second to Envoi Allen in this race last year, then won the Savills Chase at Christmas. He was pulled up in the Irish Gold Cup in February, and Noel MeadeAdd Noel Meade to the Horse Tracker said afterwards he had pulled a small muscle in a hind leg. The Racing Post card shows no run since.

Banbridge

BanbridgeAdd Banbridge to the Horse Tracker won the 2024 King George and was beaten a whisker trying to win it again last Boxing Day. He was third behind Heart Wood in the Ryanair and unseated his rider at the Chair in the Grand National. He then won a Flat maiden at Gowran Park on 1 September at 4/1, and Joseph Patrick O'BrienAdd Joseph Patrick O'Brien to the Horse Tracker named Down Royal as an option that evening.

Romeo Coolio

Romeo CoolioAdd Romeo Coolio to the Horse Tracker won the beginners' chase at this meeting a year ago at 4/6 and was unbeaten in three chases by January, including the Grade 1 Drinmore at Fairyhouse. He was pulled up on his last run, according to the card's form figures. The Racing Post says this could be his first start in open company.

The others

Two of the entries have already run over fences this autumn. In our results files, Fleur In The ParkAdd Fleur In The Park to the Horse Tracker won the Grade 2 Danoli Chase at Gowran Park on 3 October at 11/10, ridden by Cian QuirkeAdd Cian Quirke to the Horse Tracker for Andrew SlatteryAdd Andrew Slattery to the Horse Tracker, in a field of four. Croke Park was second at 7/2 in a four-runner Grade 3 over 2m7f at Punchestown on 14 October, ridden by Jack KennedyAdd Jack Kennedy to the Horse Tracker.

Haiti Couleurs won the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham and the Irish Grand National in spring 2025. He has no official rating shown on the card.

Our results database starts in October 2023 and holds 154 jumps races at Down Royal over 24 race days, to 28 August this year. That takes in three autumn festivals, 37 races between them. These are records of what happened, not betting angles, and some of the samples are small.

The trainers at Down Royal

Gordon Elliott is the course's leading jumps trainer in that record by a distance, with 41 winners from 174 runners (23.6%). At the three autumn festivals he has 21 winners from 70 runners, 30%. Henry de Bromhead has 14 winners from 56 runners at the course's jumps fixtures, and 5 from 24 at the autumn meetings.

Willie MullinsAdd W P Mullins to the Horse Tracker has no entry this year. He has had one winner from 21 jumps runners at Down Royal in our record, and none from 8 at the autumn meetings.

The last 14 days

Across Irish and Northern Irish jumps races from 13 to 26 October, our results files give Henry de Bromhead 6 winners from 21 runners and Gordon Elliott 4 from 27. Joseph Patrick O'Brien had 1 from 6, Noel Meade none from 5 and Andrew Slattery none from 3. Rebecca Curtis, whose runners have been in Britain, had 3 winners from 9.

The race itself

The Champion Chase is in our database three times. Gerri ColombeAdd Gerri Colombe to the Horse Tracker won for Elliott in 2023 with four running, and Envoi Allen won with five running in 2024 and again in 2025. The longer race record shows the same small fields: five to nine ran in each of the eight runnings from 2017 to 2025 with a Sporting Life result page. Three favourites won in the ten runnings from 2016 to 2025, and De Bromhead and Elliott trained seven of those ten winners between them.

Storm Boelo came through over the weekend, and the Racing Post reported on Monday that Down Royal was among the tracks to take the worst of it, after significant rain over the previous few days. Emma Meehan said the course would go back to watering if it was needed. Robbie Power and Emmet McNamara walked the track on Friday and were happy with the grass cover.

On 27 October, Down Royal's fixtures page gave the going as Yielding, good to yielding in places, after 10mm of rain. That is the latest reading we have, and it can change before Saturday, so check it again on the day. Gates open at 11am on both days, with the first race at 12.30pm.

Our race record describes the test as three miles in small fields on ground from good to yielding to soft, so this week's reading is well within the usual range.

Friday's card has no Grade 1. Its feature hurdles are the bottlegreen Hurdle and a Grade 3 mares' novice hurdle, and both days' cards are on our Down Royal racecards.

The Racing Post card lists ITV for the Champion Chase, at 3:15pm on Saturday. Racing TV shows every meeting at all 26 Irish racecourses, Down Royal included, under a rights deal that runs to at least 2029, so subscribers in Britain and Ireland can watch both days of the festival there.

Wetherby's Charlie Hall Chase is on the same Saturday, so check both cards if you follow the staying chasers. Our Down Royal racecards carry the final field once it is declared, and the racing results page has every result the same evening.

For the track itself, see the Down Royal course guide and the Festival of Racing guide. The day out guide covers getting there and the enclosures.

Small fields change how the race bets. With so few runners, each-way terms are thinner than in a big handicap, so read the place terms before you take a price, and our each-way calculator shows what a bet returns either way. Prices can move a long way once the declarations are out. A bookmaker offering best odds guaranteed pays the starting price if it is bigger than the one you took, and our best BOG bookmakers page lists them.

What our model makes of it

Our AI race predictor rates the day's races, Irish meetings included. It publishes provisional ratings at 14:10 the day before and a final run at 05:00 on race morning. On Saturday our Champion Chase guide shows the model's top-rated runner in the race and its fair price, then how that runner finished. Treat it as a test of the model, not a tip. Every earlier pick is listed with its result, losers included, and the track record covers every race it prices.

Checked on 27 October 2026 against:

• Racing Post: the Champion Chase entries card (entries, ratings, prize money, off time, TV)
• Racing Post: Down Royal on the rain and Storm Boelo, 26 October
• Down Royal fixtures and going
• The42: Envoi Allen dies after the Gold Cup
• The Irish Field: Heart Wood wins the Ryanair Chase
• The Irish Field: Affordale Fury's pulled muscle
• Racing Post: Banbridge wins at Gowran Park
• Sporting Life: Ryanair Chase entries, January
• Sky Sports: Haiti Couleurs wins the Irish Grand National
• Racing Post: Irish racing stays on Racing TV

Our own figures come from our results database (from October 2023) and the daily results files, and the race's history from our Champion Chase guide. The horses named are entries, not declared runners, until the declarations on Friday.