One of the best days of the Irish National Hunt season takes place at Fairyhouse this Sunday, with three Grade 1 races scheduled.

Bar One Racing is the chief sponsor on the day and the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle will be the cornerstone of an excellent offering, which will be shown live on RTÉ. Last year’s popular winners Honeysuckle and Rachael Blackmore will likely bid for back-to-back wins for trainer Henry de Bromhead in that two-and-a-half mile contest.

Gordon Elliott looks set up for another big day at one of his local tracks. He will likely pitch up Envoi Allen in the Drinmore Novice Chase and he has a few nice options for the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle, namely impressive Down Royal scorer Ballyadam.

Elliott remarkably trained the winner of all three Grade 1 races on this card in 2017 and has started the season in red hot form in his bid to achieve his dream of becoming Irish champion jumps trainer. After the weekend he leads Willie Mullins by just over €360,000, although the current champion trainer has yet to fully unleash his galaxy of stars, that lead is not unsubstantial.

With €70,000 in prize money up for grabs in both the Drinmore and Royal Bond, and €125,000 in the Porterstown Handicap Chase, Elliott could open up a nice gap on his rival, in what is the last significant meeting before the Christmas festivals.

At the weekend, Bristol De Mai regained his title in the Grade 1 Betfair Chase with a typically attritional performance at Haydock. The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained grey led all the way for Daryl Jacob and bravely held off the challenge of Clan Des Obeaux to make it three wins in the race.

At home Henry de Bromhead’s Gold Cup hope Minella Indo made no mistake in a Grade 2 contest at Navan, where his jumping was excellent in a bloodless victory. The seven-year-old will likely take on the Grade 1 Savills Chase over Christmas at Leopardstown next.