Jonbon looking to emulate Kauto Star
Jonbon Back Betfair Picture: Rock: Sandown Creek Is Back Tingle Short In At Victories Ready A To Chase To Walton/pa Price Secure The John To
Nicky Henderson would love to see Jonbon become the first horse since the great Kauto Star to claim back-to-back victories in the Betfair Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown on Saturday.
The master of Seven Barrows has trained a whole host of top-class two milers including Remittance Man, Travado, and two recent Tingle Creek heroes in Sprinter Sacre (2012) and Altior (2018).
Henderson believes seven-time Grade One winner Jonbon "matches up" with all of those horses as he looks to defend his Sandown crown, as Kauto Star did in 2006.
"I think you have to give him pretty high star status as he certainly compares with all the others. To be fair any horse that has won the amount of Grade Ones that he has done has to be pretty good," said the trainer.
"They have all been completely different. Sprinter was unique as he was just a big, beautiful, mighty horse and Altior was great.
"He matches up with all the other lads. He is a solid person and a great character."
Just as he did last season, Jonbon will be looking to follow up a comeback victory in the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham.
The eight-year-old will be reopposed by the second, third, and fourth from that Grade Two contest in Boothill, Edwardstone, and Unexpected Party respectively and Henderson is optimistic his charge can confirm his superiority on a track where he is unbeaten in four starts.
He added: "We are very happy with Jonbon. Paddy (Murphy) who rides him every day tells me he is very happy, but he is an eternal optimist so I hope he is right!
"The whole idea of the Shloer is that it is a nice stepping stone, and although it comes quite close to the Tingle Creek, it brought him on really well last year, and I'd be disappointed if it hasn't brought him on again this year.
"Edwardstone was there with us in the Shloer and I expect Alan King thinks and hopes he will have come on for that race, and the second Boothill as well. They were all making their seasonal debuts, but we would hope we can confirm the placings.
"They are all entitled to come on for the Shloer run, but so is Jonbon and I think we are in a good place with him."
Henderson is unconcerned about the prospect of conditions deteriorating ahead of Saturday's feature event, saying: "I gather there is plenty of rain to come so we have got to be prepared for soft ground, but I think he is pretty versatile as far as ground is concerned. Like any top-class horse, he can handle most things.
"It would be good if he could win this for a second time as this is one of the first big Grade One tests on the calendar and it is a historic race in memory of what was a great horse in Tingle Creek, who I remember well."
Jonbon successfully stepped up to two and a half miles in the Melling Chase at Aintree in the spring, raising the intriguing possibility he could test the water over three at some stage, potentially in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on St Stephen's Day.
However, he looks set to stick to the minimum trip for the time being as his trainer aims to add the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham to the Walk In The Park gelding's CV.
"He was supposed to go to Cheltenham for the Queen Mother in March, but as you know we weren't happy with the horses on the whole at that time, and we had to just pass the meeting by," Henderson went on.
"We then wanted to go to Aintree, where there isn't a two-mile race, but a very good two-and-a-half-mile race — and two and a half miles around Aintree is a different ball game to two miles around Cheltenham as one is a very easy track, and one is a very stiff one.
"He was always going to come back to two miles for the Celebration Chase after that. It would have been very interesting to have tried three miles, and if you were ever going to do it, I suppose the obvious thing would have been to look at the King George, but if you do that you then take him out of the Tingle Creek.
"He hasn't won a Champion Chase, and that would be nice, but you just take things one race at a time."
Henderson also gave an update on Constitution Hill, who was forced to miss his eagerly-awaited return to action in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle at Newcastle, after being found to be lame following a public workout at Newbury.
"We are just working away on Constitution Hill. He will be working away this weekend and we have then got another couple of weeks until the Christmas Hurdle," he said.
"Hopefully everything is on schedule. It is just routine work he will be doing at the weekend."