Abacadabras, Envoi Allen, Delta Work, Samcro, Battleoverdoyen, Queens Brook, Presenting Percy. They are just some of the big guns Gordon Elliott is set to unleash at Down Royal’s Ladbrokes Festival of Racing this Friday and Saturday.

Elliott has sent out 26 winners at the last five renewals of the meeting including winning the feature contest, the Ladbrokes Champion Chase, three times. Aside from the graded races, anything he runs on the two undercards should be watched closely. He has won four of the last five renewals of the opening maiden hurdle on the Friday (Fury Road, Poli Roi, Monbeg Notorious and Cogryhill) and the last four renewals of the beginners chase on the same card (Samcro, Delta Work, Tombstone and A Toi Phil).

On the Saturday, he has won the opening juvenile hurdle on three of the last five occasions (Coeur Sublime, Mega Fortune and Missy Tata) and the closing bumper on six of the previous seven renewals, launching the careers of the likes of Malone Road, Death Duty and Easywork.

Watch out for the likes of Wide Receiver, Farouk D’Alene, Sir Gerhard, Weseekhimhere, Quilixios and Ballyadam, who all look set to head to Down Royal this week.

In total Elliott has 42 entries across the two-day meeting. Compare that to his trainers’ title rival Willie Mullins who only has two, and you can see a stark approach to this meeting and indeed this time of year.

As mentioned Elliott has numerous stars who could grab the sole focus of headlines with regard to the season ahead, but perhaps none more interesting than Presenting Percy, who looks set to have his first start out of the Cullentra yard.

Few like to see a big name horse leave a small name yard for a big name trainer and Presenting Percy’s exploits under the unorthodox training regime of Pat Kelly tightly grasped the attention of the racing public like few horses can. But there are still chapters to write in Percy’s story and the decision of Philip Reynolds to move his prized possession to Co Meath is intriguing and one that could provide the nine-year-old with a new lease of life.

Elliott has always loved the horse. I remember saying as much at a Cheltenham preview night before the 2018 Festival. Presenting Percy was favourite for the RSA Chase and Elliott said he was the best chaser in Ireland and he’d win it and win the Gold Cup next season. He actually said he’d win the Gold Cup that year if he was in the race.

Hacked up

Presenting Percy hacked up in that RSA Chase, a performance that suggested the staying chaser division was his for the taking. But then the sun shone unrelentingly for the 2018/'19 season and, with that resulting in dry ground for most of the campaign, Kelly kept his charge at home until Thyestes day at Gowran Park. With the anticipation at fever pitch, a win in the Galmoy Hurdle there sparked raucous scenes and remarkably allowed Presenting Percy to go off favourite in a Gold Cup despite not running once over fences that season.

There was a sense of mystique about the whole thing but perhaps that is when reality bit for connections. Despite the fact that Presenting Percy raced three times before the Festival last year, it was arguably more disappointing for them because his limitations seemed exposed.

Yet it’s worth remembering just how good he was in his novice chase year. He won the Porterstown over the Irish Grand National course and distance at Fairyhouse off a mark of 145 before reverting to hurdles to win the Galmoy and then running Gold Cup contender Our Duke to within a length in the two-and-a-half mile Red Mills Chase.

It left the trends analysts scratching their heads prior to the RSA Chase but he hacked up there, jumping beautifully before powering away from Monalee. That RSA Chase was a vintage renewal. Al Boum Photo was beaten before falling at the second last while Elegant Escape, subsequent Welsh National winner, was back in third and Ballyoptic, subsequent Scotting National runner-up, was in fourth.

How Presenting Percy can perform under the tutelage of Elliott now is fascinating. While his failure to win a Grade 1 chase since the RSA has been disappointing, he wasn’t beaten further than five lengths in his three runs prior to the Festival last year and he certainly wasn’t done with before he fell in the Gold Cup.

He’s a nine-year-old chaser with just 10 runs over fences. It isn’t far fetched in the slightest to suggest Elliott could find a few pounds of improvement and his run in the north on Saturday will go a fair way to forecasting what could be one of the big stories this year.