Energumene camp game for Jonbon battle at Ascot

Energumene will not “lie down for Jonbon” when he bids to finally get his hands on the BetMGM Clarence House Chase trophy in an all-star showdown at Ascot.

The two-mile Grade One is a familiar port of call for Willie Mullins’ dual Champion Chase hero – but despite playing a leading role in two thrilling renewals, he has yet to come out on top.

Few will forget his titanic tussle with Shishkin at Ascot in 2022 and, while there will be another Nicky Henderson-trained powerhouse standing in his way on Saturday, it was Alan King’s reopposing Edwardstone who was battling for supremacy when both ultimately lost out to Editeur Du Gite at Cheltenham in 2023.

Injury kept Energumene off the track for the whole of the 2023-24 season, but he proved his ability is still very much there when making a winning return in his usual Cork starting point, an effort all the more meritorious given the subsequent achievements of final-fence casualty Banbridge.

However, dreams of the 11-year-old getting his preferred soft ground this weekend are unlikely to come to fruition, with a dry forecast anticipated.

“The horse has come out of the Hilly Way Chase in great form and we’re just hoping we get a drop of rain before the race, even though the weather forecast seems to suggest not, sadly,” said Sean Graham, racing manager to owner Tony Bloom.

“I’d say the wetter the ground, the better the chance we would have – and the drier things get, it increases Jonbon’s chances.

“Energumene came out and won after nearly 600 days off the track at Cork and Paul (Townend) was very complimentary about him afterwards. He said he still maintained all his enthusiasm and jumped well in front.

“Banbridge might have given him a race if standing up at Cork, but he’s then gone on and won a King George. I know Energumene was getting 10lb from Banbridge that day, but he showed plenty of sparkle and he certainly isn’t going to lie down for Jonbon – we’ll put it up to him and hopefully make a race of it.”

Victory would tee Energumene up superbly for the chance to emulate Badsworth Boy and become only the second horse to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase on three occasions.

In the meantime, his team are more than happy to play their part in a mouthwatering contest en route to Prestbury Park in the spring.

Graham continued: “These races are great and it will hopefully give people an appetite for what’s coming at Cheltenham in March. It would be very easy to wrap him up in cotton wool, but that’s not what it’s about and we want to get him out on track.

“He’s an 11-year-old now and we’re probably running out of the number of days we can enjoy with him, so we want to take part and enjoy it.”

Jonbon will also be attempting to erase Clarence House demons after a poor round of jumping saw him narrowly defeated as the 1-4 favourite when the race again took place at Cheltenham 12 months ago.

That is one of just two blemishes on his stellar chasing CV and having looked as deadly as ever in the Tingle Creek prior to Christmas, he is ready to tackle Ascot for the first time since his novice hurdling days.

Henderson said: “He has had the one run round Ascot when he won the Kennel Gate. I don’t think left or right makes any difference to him. He loves Sandown, which is right-handed with a fair few undulations in it, so I can’t see why Ascot wouldn’t be suitable. I would hope he would enjoy it.

“Energumene was impressive on his comeback run a few weeks ago. The interesting thing there is that Jonbon’s very happy up there, they could be going a right good gallop, it could be an attacking game.”

Jonbon has the chance to give Henderson a record-extending seventh win in the Ascot showpiece and his first since Shishkin had Energumene’s number in 2022.

Remembering that toe-to-toe contest, he continued: “That was one of the great races of all-time, it was billed as that and it lived up to that, which was terrific.

“Well, it was terrific for us, I don’t think Willie enjoyed it as much as we did! It was going their way and then it came back to go our way at the end.”

Seven Barrows greats Sprinter Sacre and Altior are others on the race’s roll of honour, with Jonbon fitting of joining those illustrious names having now won 11 of his 13 chasing starts.

“We’ve been very lucky, these two-milers have joined in one after the other – Sprinter Sacre, Altior, Shishkin and then Jonbon – they’ve slotted in nicely,” said Henderson.

“You wouldn’t have wanted them all at the same time – well, you wouldn’t have minded. We’re just very lucky that they came into our lives.

“They all had their own temperaments. Shishkin had his own quirks, he was a character, we loved him. Altior was probably the most straightforward, and Sprinter was just something else. In the first part of his career, he was virtually unbeatable, he was a brilliant horse.”

Alan King’s aforementioned veteran Edwardstone and the Harry Fry-trained course and distance scorer Boothill complete the quartet of runners.