IN February 2018, the sale ring at Cheltenham played host to a number of spectacular sales of point-to-point winners. One of them was Envoi Allen (Muhtathir), handled by Colin Bowe for Walter Connors, and he sold to Tom Malone for £400,000. The then four-year-old gelding won a point-to-point on his debut at Ballinaboola by an eye-catching 10 lengths.

After the sale the agent revealed that he had been purchased for David and Patricia Thompson of Cheveley Park Stud, and was being sent for training in Ireland by Gordon Elliott. Malone was hugely enthusiastic about the gelding, saying: “I loved him. I saw him privately in the yard and I was there standing in the field when he won his point-to-point effortlessly.” The agent’s assessment of the bay was spot on.