It is a definite case of quality over quantity for the rearranged Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal.

Gordon Elliott has not shied away from running two of his stable stars, with Gerri Colombe and Conflated both part of the line up.

Gerri Colombe has been defeated only once in his career, suffering a narrow loss to The Real Whacker in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham in March but he has passed every other test – including a seven-and-a-half-length success in the Mildmay at Aintree.

He makes his return for the campaign at Down Royal and Elliott is happy with how he has fared since he was last seen.

“It’s his first run of the season. He didn’t do much wrong last year, he went from strength to strength,” the trainer said.

“He looks strong, he’s in good form, he’s not a good work horse and doesn’t do anything very flash but he’s a typical big, staying chaser. He’s in good form and we’re happy with him.”

Conflated, a nine-year-old gelding owned by Gigginstown House Stud, also enjoyed Grade One success last term when taking the Savills Chase at Leopardstown before finishing third behind Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

His first effort this season was a beaten run at Punchestown in October but Elliott expects him to come on for that experience.

“Conflated was a Grade One winner last year. He’ll have come on from Punchestown and we’re really looking forward to running him,” Elliott told Down Royal.

“He needed it badly. He’d been a little bit delayed after a setback and we said we’d give him a run to get him fit and you’ll see an awful lot of improvement in him.”

Henry de Bromhead will field the other two runners in Envoi Allen and Minella Indo, the latter of whom has already hit the ground running when winning the Punchestown race in which Conflated was last of five.

Last year’s winner Envoi Allen has also had a start this term, but his was not a winning one as he finished third in the PWC Champion Chase at Gowran Park in late September.

Richard Thompson of owners Cheveley Park Stud said: “He was a bit disappointing last time out, a bit rusty.

“He has those days, but I’m told he’s in great form and he obviously won this race last year.

“He’s won eight Grade Ones now, he’s a three-time Cheltenham winner and has been fantastic for us.”

De Bromhead added: “Envoi Allen is in great form so we’re hoping for a good run. We were disappointed obviously not to win at Gowran but the form has been franked (with runner-up Gentlemansgame winning the Charlie Hall Chase).

“With hindsight it was a good run and he will definitely improve fitness-wise.”

Minella Indo’s Punchestown victory was just his second since winning the 2021 Gold Cup at Cheltenham.

“Minella Indo was brilliant the last day and will also hopefully improve from his recent run. He was pretty good in Punchestown, we’re happy and hopefully he will also give a good account of himself,” said his trainer.

“He only had a couple of runs last season and the Gold Cup was obviously disappointing, but the day at Tramore was incredible.”

Gerri Colombe will lead a strong team for Gordon Elliott in Saturday’s Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal.

While the seven-year-old lost his unbeaten record at the Cheltenham Festival in March when beaten a short head by The Real Whacker, he gained some compensation in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase at Aintree.

That victory took his record under rules to eight wins from nine outings, with three victories at the top level already.

Elliott has already stated this season is all about the Cheltenham Gold Cup and he feels this is the perfect starting point.

Stablemates Conflated and Delta Work are also likely to take their chance, with only six left in contention at Tuesday’s confirmation stage.

“We’ll definitely run two or three in it. It’s a Grade One race and you’ve got to support these races,” Elliott told the track.

“We’ll run Conflated, a Grade One winner last year, Gerri Colombe who did nothing wrong last year and we’ll probably run maybe Delta Work as well.

“It’s Gerri’s first run of the season, Cheltenham is the plan and we’re planning on maybe two runs before it. This looks the ideal one to start off in.”

Elliott also Galway Plate winner Ash Tree Meadow in contention.

A former Elliott inmate, Envoi Allen, now with Henry de Bromhead is a possible as is his stablemate, the 2021 Gold Cup winner Minella Indo.

He made a winning return to action at Punchestown recently where he had Delta Work and Conflated behind him.

A defence of the Ladbrokes Champion Chase at Down Royal could be next on the agenda for Envoi Allen following an underwhelming reappearance at Gowran Park last month.

A three-time Cheltenham Festival winner, having won the 2019 Champion Bumper, the 2020 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle and last season’s Ryanair Chase, the Cheveley Park Stud-owned gelding is clearly a top-class operator, but has become increasingly difficult to predict over the past couple of years.

The nine-year-old made a successful start to last season at Down Royal, one of eight Grade One victories on his CV, but is set to return to Northern Ireland on another recovery mission having been beaten into third behind Easy Game in the PWC Champion Chase a couple of weeks ago.

“He was a bit rusty (at Gowran) and as we know with Envoi, he can occasionally throw in a disappointing run and then he comes back and shows us how good he is,” said Cheveley Park director Richard Thompson.

“He won two Grade Ones last season and you’d very much hope he’ll come on for that last run. It was a bit disappointing, but he’s given us eight Grade One wins and is a three-time Cheltenham Festival winner, so he’s been a marvellous horse to own and owes us nothing.

“I think that’s where he’ll probably go next (Down Royal), he seemed to enjoy that last year.”

Another Cheveley Park star with a point to prove this term is Envoi Allen’s stablemate A Plus Tard.

The nine-year-old was a sensational winner of the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup for Henry de Bromhead, but a listless display when bidding for back-to-back victories in last season’s Betfair Chase set the tone for a bitterly disappointing campaign.

He was pulled up again in the Gold Cup in March and while a third-placed finish behind Shishkin in the Aintree Bowl was a small step in the right direction, Thompson admits only time will tell whether he can return to his brilliant best.

He added: “He obviously had some issues last season and it didn’t go according to plan. He’s had some work done on him over the summer, I won’t go into specifics as I won’t be able to be technical about it.

“We’ll have to give him a run and see where he’s at, because although we had excuses in the Gold Cup, where he was impeded, and we had the issue before he was due to run in the Savills Chase and his bloods were wrong after the Betfair Chase, he was a tired horse after he ran at Aintree.

“We need to make sure he’s in good shape when he comes out for his first run and take it from there in terms of what sort of campaign he’ll have. We need to see how he runs first time out.”

Allaho, a dual winner of the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham for Willie Mullins, has been sidelined by injury since a dominant success in the 2022 Punchestown Gold Cup – but appears to be on the comeback trail.

“All is good with him, as far as I’m aware,” said Thompson.

“I can’t give you any recent details because we’re waiting for Willie to give his view on the programme and I haven’t heard any word recently.”