King happy for Edwardstone to tackle Clarence House big guns

Edwardstone has emerged as a likely rival to Jonbon and Energumene in the BetMGM Clarence House Chase at Ascot.

Alan King’s stable star has chased home the Nicky Henderson-trained Jonbon on several occasions over the past couple of seasons and is being readied to take him on once more on Saturday week.

Having fallen when bidding for a second win in the Tingle Creek at Sandown in early December, Edwardstone made his first ever start in a handicap over fences in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton Park over the festive period.

The 11-year-old had to make do with the runner-up spot, but was giving 20lb in weight to the winner Soul Icon and King is happy to step him back up in grade in what could be a mouthwatering affair.

“It was a very good run at Kempton under that weight and he actually worked this morning and we were very happy with him,” said the Barbury Castle handler on Wednesday afternoon.

“All being well, I think he’ll go to Ascot a week on Saturday. It’ll be a tough race, but there’s a lot of prize-money and if he can pick a bit of it up, so be it.

“I just feel that as a novice he thrived on his racing, so we felt that we’d do something similar with this year.”

Edwardstone’s most recent victory came when readily accounting for his rivals in the Game Spirit at Newbury in February last year and a defence of his crown could be on the cards next month, potentially against another Henderson hotpot in the shape of Sir Gino.

King added: “We’ll go one race at a time, but I’d have thought that’s quite likely.”

As for Jonbon, he won for an 11th time in 13 starts over fences when making it back-to-back Tingle Creek wins in early December, while the Willie Mullins-trained Energumene memorably came off second-best in an epic battle with Jonbon’s former stablemate Shishkin in the 2022 Clarence House.

A dual winner of the Champion Chase at Cheltenham, he proved his ability remains very much intact after a season on the sidelines when landing the Hilly Way Chase a day after Jonbon’s Sandown win.