IT has become a routine narrative for the National Hunt scene in Ireland that wherever Willie Mullins is Gordon Elliott can’t be far away and it was more of the same this year as evidenced by the pair going toe-to-toe over the four days at Cheltenham.

The trainer’s star inmate Envoi Allen still has some way to go before he enters the Gold Cup picture but this six-year-old has long been touted as a contender for that prize and he has done nothing to dispel that notion over the last 12 months.