'Attacker' Jonbon has JP McManus excited for El Fabiolo rematch after battling to fifth Grade 1 victory

There was a point when Nicky Henderson was asked to describe Jonbon that his eyes lit up and he became extremely animated.

“He’s an attacker,” Henderson said crisply, thrusting his hand forward with vigour and purpose. “You can really let him rip at fences, but that would’ve been dangerous in these conditions today.”

For much of the last week, Henderson has been on the defensive as the will-he-won’t-he story unfolded regarding Constitution Hill running – or otherwise as it turned out – in the rearranged Fighting Fifth.

There were no such dilemmas with Jonbon in the Betfair Tingle Creek Chase, and Henderson thrived on the opportunity to speak positively about one of his superstar performers.

“He’s growing up all of the time,” he said. “I’ve mentioned before that we had a gallop at Windsor with him earlier this year and he was quite geed up by that and in his preparation. But at Cheltenham, and since then, he has been more settled and grown up. 

“He’s jumping very well this year. He's got to do that to be a competitor in these top races this season and it’s great that he is doing that. 

"It was always going to be tough in this ground. We said to hang on to him for as long as we could as it's the sort of ground you can get caught out in. It was essentially to keep our powder a little bit drier today.”

Jonbon jumps the final fence ahead of Haddex Des Obeaux

For all that the heavy ground meant Henderson and jockey Nico de Boinville were eager not to overuse Jonbon, the effervescent seven-year-old nevertheless matched Haddex Des Obeaux jump for jump on the front end.

And while the big three competitors – Jonbon, Haddex Des Obeaux and last year’s winner Edwardstone – grouped up jumping the Pond fence, Jonbon clicked into overdrive clearing the last and galloped to a comfortable two-and-three-quarter-length victory as the 30-100 favourite.

De Boinville said: “I didn’t want to give any ground away and I wanted to be positive without doing too much in that ground. 

"I’d say his jumping was a solid eight out of ten today, but there’s plenty of improvement to come on better ground as well. It’s hard work out there so to be able to jump like that was electric.”

Jonbon remains the 5-2 second favourite with bookmakers for the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March where he will be required to overturn last season’s Arkle form with conqueror El Fabiolo.

The Grade 1 Clarence House Chase and the Grade 2 Game Spirit Chase were mentioned as the next possible targets for Jonbon by Henderson. For owner JP McManus, the Cheltenham Festival was marked out as the right place for his star and El Fabiolo to face off again.

Jonbon sees off Edwardstone up the run-in to land the Tingle Creek

“We’ll avoid him for as long as we can!” McManus said. “What we come to Cheltenham to do is to test them and that will be an exciting rematch when it happens. 

"Conditions might not have been ideal for him today, but it’s great to see him get down and get the result.”

Among those to congratulate McManus after Jonbon’s victory was Alan King, whose Edwardstone was denied back-to-back wins in the Tingle Creek but who did erode much of the gap between the two horses from the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham last time.

Nevertheless, a future over further than two miles seems likely for Edwardstone. King said: “Tom [Cannon] thinks he’s still as good as ever, we’ve just got a superstar in front of us. I couldn’t be happier with him. This really wouldn’t be his ground but he’s run a hell of a race and we’re very proud. 

“We’ll have a chat with the owners and we might try one run at the start of next year over two and a half miles and decide whether he goes Ryanair or Champion Chase. The Ascot Chase is probably in my mind, but we’ll see. I would like to avoid today’s winner if I can.”

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