There are few finer sights in soar racing than Jonbon in full circulation 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 likelihood over his fences, he by no means seemed prone to be headed as he took his file to 14 wins and three seconds beneath 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 profitable 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 discuss quite a bit however the wonderful factor is each dialog begins, ‘How’s Jonbon?’. One other horse is fortunate to get a point out within the dialog. I believe this horse means quite a bit to him and he means quite a bit to me.
“You could possibly have almost fined him for rushing at this time however you needed to go and try this. We knew per week in the past that we have been going to need to exit and drum this race and make it a correct check. We needed to check stamina, as a result of we all know Jonbon stays two and a half miles, and check 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 believe 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 could take many 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 start out 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 bought to ask ourselves the place his optimum is.
“We’ve bought all summer time however when he’s dusting it up like that and making it a correct check 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 beneath the check 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 a great run however leaping was our concern 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 a great circulation.”
Edwardstone put a fall on the second-last within the Champion Chase behind him with an in depth third beneath 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.
