The two horses at the top of the betting for the Queen Mother Champion Chase in March both finished their weekend races with minimal fuss and in very similar style. Jonbon moved away from Edwardstone after the final race in the Tingle Creek Chase on Saturday, 24 hours before El Fabiolo finished clear around five furlongs on his return to action in Cork.
With Willie Mullins’ El Fabiolo now a shadow of a chance in the Champion Chase, Jonbon, who was five and a half lengths behind when second to El Fabiolo in the Arkle Trophy in March, was beaten by a shot of 11-4. . The potential they will encounter in just over three months promises to be one of the most important moments of the Festival.
Relating to: Jonbon considers Tingle Creek chance after Henderson makes ‘tough decisions’
The coaches involved’s thoughts on what they might do in the meantime were interesting in the context of ongoing concerns about the competitiveness of the National Hunt, which has moved away from the major Festivals in the spring.
Nicky Henderson mentioned the Grade One Clarence House Chase at Ascot at the end of January and the Grade Two Spirit of Play Chase at Newbury a fortnight later as possible targets for Jonbon. “I can’t see them [Jonbon and El Fabiolo] “We will meet on the road,” he said. “I don’t think we will go to Ireland [for the Dublin Racing Festival] “I hope that Willie will play the same game as us and we will be ready for the rematch in March.”
That probably makes sense from Henderson’s perspective, but he’ll certainly understand if the racegoers and punters (and Ascot) are hoping for the opposite. It looks like Mullins is really keen to run El Fabiolo at Clarence House. “We’ll look at Christmas [at Leopardstown] He will probably go to Ascot too,” said the coach.
It remains to be seen whether Jonbon will be there to greet him, but it doesn’t take too much unpacking of Henderson’s comment to suspect that the alternative destination at Newbury against less demanding opposition will suddenly become more attractive.
Ffo Las
12.20 Ballymagroarty Boy 12.52 Jukebox Man 1.22 Steel Ally 1.52 passing Kate 2.22 King of Ryhope (confectionery) 2.52 John Betjeman 3.22 Boston Joe
fontwell
12.40 Quel Destin 1.10 River Gold 1.40 It’s easy 2.10 Hercules Westwood 2.40 easy to follow 3.10 Aviles 3.40 He’s a Latchico
wincanton
12.45 Wholesale 1.15 Rajaran 1.45 I don’t know right 2.15 King Tururgeon 2.45 O Malaya 3.15 Fame and Entertainment 3.45 Crest of Luck
south well
5.00 like a shadow 5.30 Toy Brown 6.00 Danielle 6.30 Phoenix Beach 7.00 Enola Gray 7.30 Habib (nb) 8.00 rubeus 8.30 Le Rouge Chinois
To be fair to Henderson, he was prioritizing Cheltenham in March for his stable of stars in the days when Ireland as a whole were struggling to muster more than a few Festival winners at best.
He also ran Shishkin against Mullins’ Energumene at Clarence House in 2022; this became one of the most memorable contests of recent years as Shishkin rose to his feet a few feet from the line and extended his unbeaten run over fences to seven races. . But Shishkin faced contention after jumping just eight fences in the Champion Chase, while Energumene went on to record the first of two consecutive wins in the two-mile championship event.
It also wasn’t that long ago that Henderson’s Altior lost his unbeaten record over fences in his 20th attempt, going 1-3 in the 1965 Chase in November 2019. Altior won only one of his next three starts, and his trainer still regrets that decision. Lead him at Ascot.
But as Lydia Hislop, one of Racing TV’s senior correspondents and journalists, recently attracted attentionAt the end of the 2022-23 season, only 47 horses scoring 151 or more were stabled at British yards. There are also around 150 races at Grade One, Grade Two, Listed or Premier Handicap level to fill in the five months from October to February.
It’s no secret that Irish jumping is in a much better place at the moment than its British counterpart. By various measures, Ireland’s racing industry is significantly smaller than the UK’s, with fewer horses, fewer meetings and less prize money – but among top runners and hurdlers, as their increasing dominance at Cheltenham in recent seasons has shown has the lion’s share.
This is partly because the spending power of Ireland’s big owners has eclipsed the spending power of the British equine charity over the last 15 or 20 years. Some of their horses go to English stables; Shishkin, for example, is owned by Dublin-based Joe Donnelly, while Jonbon is ridden by JP McManus, who topped the owners’ charts in both Ireland and Britain last year. However, there are also important owners in England who send horses to the other side; Rich Ricci, a mainstay of the Mullins shipyard, is a clear example of this.
The British Horseracing Authority’s much-anticipated “Premierisation” program for both jumps and Flat racing begins in January, with limits on the number of venues that can race in a two-hour “window” on a Saturday afternoon. Hopefully weekend viewers will be able to more easily spot the meetings and races that really matter.
If the best of the relative handful of top-class jumpers in British yards begin to be diverted into Grade One racing to await a less demanding alternative, the fare on offer to potential new fans will still consist of small fields and long stakes. -in favorites.
Of course it would be greedy to expect a regular repeat of the Energumene encounter with Shishkin two seasons ago, but if one of the best and most successful jumping coaches of the last 40 years hopes that the opponent will “play the same game” and stay away until March, it is too much for anything approaching ahead of the Festival We could wait a long time.