De Boinville hails “fantastic” Jonbon

Jonbon ground Energumene into submission to land another fantastic triumph in the BetMGM Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

Nico de Boinville was positive from the outset and soon established an advantage at the head of affairs on the 8-13 favourite.

There was a point in the race where Nicky Henderson’s charge was not so fluent at the fences and that allowed Paul Townend to close up on Energumene entering the home straight.

However, Jonbon kicked again and got his act together in the jumping department when it mattered most, galloping on strongly to prevail by six and a half lengths.

The JP McManus-owned nine-year-old made it 17 wins from 20 races under Rules and strengthened his position as favourite for the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival

De Boinville, who ended the day joint-second in the David Power Jockeys’ Cup table, revealed his race plan was focussed solely on Jonbon, rather than riding to beat Energumene.

He said: “They’ve done a tremendous job with him at home and I only ever school him, I don’t get on him any other time.

“The race went really smoothly and I felt like we were only doing a half-speed, but I think we were trapping along really. It was always the plan (to go forward) and I was aware horses can get caught late on here, so I just kept nudging him out to the line. I honestly just rode my own race today and if Energumene was good enough, then he was good enough.

“He’s a fantastic horse and he was good at the last – it might have made a nice picture!”

Sean Graham, racing manager to Energumene’s owner Tony Bloom, felt the good ground at Ascot had favoured Jonbon and conditions could now be key to future targets.

He said: “Paul just said on that ground Jonbon had too much speed for him and the race probably didn’t pan out in a way that suited us.

“He got alongside them four out and Jonbon just picked up and went away from them. On that ground, we’re going to struggle. Our fella is 11 and Jonbon is a nine-year-old reaching his peak.

“We probably just need to pick our battles and that might mean very soft ground. There will be no decision made on the Champion Chase yet and that will be left to Willie and Paul and we’ll go along with whatever they decide. But certainly if the ground came up heavy like it did at Cheltenham last year, you would maybe have a pop.

“I don’t want to put anyone wrong or put anyone off, but Willie and Paul will make the decision.

“He’s bounced back from defeat in this race before and when we were stood in this position after the defeat to Shishkin, I turned round and said ‘how do we turn that around at Cheltenham?’.

“He did and then he was even more disappointing when he got beat in the Clarence House at Cheltenham (when third in 2023) and went and won the Champion Chase again that year, so the horse keeps surprising us. So he might surprise us again.”

Townend added: “He ran well, but wasn’t good enough today. Cheltenham is a different place.”