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Sir Allen will head to the Cheltenham Festival after an eye-catching Punchestown success on New Year's Eve.

The four-year-old defeated Gordon Elliott's Calico by two lengths in a competitive 20-runner maiden at Punchestown.

The 7/2 chance jumped fluently and showed promise among a large field filled with some fancied runners and he was running on at the finale.

Sir Allen was trained by Andrew Slattery on the Flat as a two and three-year-old before making his hurdling debut in December. He was second that day in a Cork maiden, beaten five lengths by Blood Destiny.

But after his winning run at the Leinster track Slattery was delighted with the son of Territories.

"We were thrilled, from the first time he jumped a hurdle he showed he liked it and it was great that he carried that onto the track," Slattery said.

"He's done what he was showing at home. He had a good run at Cork, we thought he'd improve from that and he did, I'd say.

"He's a lovely horse who'll jump a fence in time. He was well capable of winning more on the Flat, he should be a good fun horse.

"He had a little injury early on last year and missed the early part of the season, that put him on the back foot as everything was a bit rushed to get him ready for the later part of the Flat season, but from the first day he jumped a hurdle he seemed to love it."

The Dublin Racing Festival or a Naas outing are next on the agenda, and the handicapper's assessment of the horse's performances is then likely to inform his target at the Cheltenham Festival.

Both the Boodles Juvenile Hurdle and the Triumph Hurdle are under consideration, with the former a handicap contest and the latter run off level weights.

"He'll have one more run, either at the Dublin Racing Festival or in Naas in February, it'll be one of those," Slattery said.

"We'll see what the handicapper does and that will tell us whether we'll go for the Boodles or the Triumph – it depends on where the handicapper puts us."