There are few finer sights in leap racing than Jonbon in full circulate over the Sandown fences and the apple of proprietor JP McManus’s eye silenced any remaining critics with a dominant success within the Grade 1 bet365 Celebration Chase.
In his belated third conflict with El Fabiolo, Jonbon was forcefully ridden by Nico de Boinville and, though he took the odd probability over his fences, he by no means regarded prone to be headed as he took his file to 14 wins and three seconds below guidelines.
Scratched from a Champion Chase showdown with El Fabiolo at Cheltenham in March after the wheels fell off the Seven Barrows bandwagon, Jonbon proved his good well being when successful over two and half miles at Aintree this month and was razor-sharp on his return to the minimal journey as he registered back-to-back wins within the Celebration.
“This horse is essential to all people and a flagship actually,” mentioned coach Nicky Henderson. “JP and I speak quite a bit however the superb factor is each dialog begins, ‘How’s Jonbon?’. One other horse is fortunate to get a point out within the dialog. I feel this horse means quite a bit to him and he means quite a bit to me.
“You might have almost fined him for rushing right this moment however you needed to go and do this. We knew every week in the past that we have been going to need to exit and drum this race and make it a correct take a look at. We needed to take a look at stamina, as a result of we all know Jonbon stays two and a half miles, and take a look at all people’s leaping, together with his. He’s not flawless as you noticed within the Clarence Home however Nico and Jonbon are two courageous folks.
“It’s only a disgrace he couldn’t have been at Cheltenham however I feel he’s regained his place within the pecking order of two-mile chasers.”
Fast sufficient for 2 miles, already a winner at two and a half and with the potential to remain three, Jonbon has not made it simple for connections heading into subsequent season and Henderson thought it will take a lot of the summer time to formulate a plan.
“I used to be pondering the Ascot chase [1965 Chase, over 2m5f] may be the place to begin him subsequent season,” mentioned Henderson. “Nico is now speaking about three miles whereas at Aintree he was saying return to 2 miles. We are able to’t ask the horse, so we’ve solely received to ask ourselves the place his optimum is.
“We’ve received all summer time however when he’s dusting it up like that and making it a correct take a look at of leaping and galloping he’s fairly rattling good.”
Whereas El Fabiolo’s second was sufficient to safe Willie Mullins his first trainers’ title in Britain, his leaping unravelled below the take a look at set by the winner.
“I believed he was destined for fourth coming to the second-last so to get again as much as be second was run however leaping was our difficulty and he should enhance,” mentioned Mullins.
Rider Paul Townend added: “He battled nicely to get again up for second however most likely simply missed too many fences to get into circulate.”
Edwardstone put a fall on the second-last within the Champion Chase behind him with an in depth third below Tom Cannon, who mentioned: “It was a really strong run. He settled properly and there have been no excuses.”
There was a tragic postscript to the race with Elixir De Nutz, a Grade 1 winner over fences and hurdles, struggling what proved a deadly damage when falling on the second-last fence.
