Jonbon, the 8-13 favourite, survived a blunder at the second fence and maintained his unbeaten record at Sandown with a decisive win in the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase, his fifth win in all at the track and second successive victory in its premier two-mile chase.
Nico de Boinville, Jonbon’s jockey, did well to sit tight after his partner took off half a stride too soon at the first ditch, and then soon had the favourite into a much better rhythm which included three perfectly judged leaps at the Railway fences on the far side of the track.
Jonbon bounded clear of Quilixios between the final two fences to win by eight lengths and was immediately cut to clear favourite at 5-2 (from 7-2 joint-favourite) by Betfair, the race’s sponsor, for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham on 12 March.
“In this ground, you have to be a bit more subdued than aggressive, but he’s encouraging you to be aggressive and that was probably a mistake from me rather than him,” De Boinville said of the incident at the first ditch. “Then he seemed to find his rhythm and he was so quick over them, and he’s a gutsy horse as well, it’s hard work in that ground.”
Earlier, Dan Skelton’s L’Eau Du Sud extended his unbeaten record over fences to three starts and confirmed his status as Britain’s leading two-mile novice with a three-and-a-quarter-length success in the Grade One Henry VIII Novice Chase.
L’Eau Du Sud was touched off in two of the season’s most competitive handicap hurdles last season and, having travelled best from the off, he showed determination to shrug off slight mistakes at the final two fences and take command on the run-in.
The six-year-old was cut to around 7-1 second-favourite for the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham, and is likely to have one more start before the festival meeting in either the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury or the Kingmaker Novice Chase at Warwick.
“I think he just got quite stuck in the ground,” Skelton said. “The biggest lesson I learned there was that he’s better on that slightly better ground, especially over fences, because he’s quite an exuberant jumper and I think that’s told late on.
“It’s a bit harder work getting out of it and he was untidy at the last two, but the good ones find a way. It might not look great, it might be scrappy, but they find a way.”
This news appeared first on @The Guardian
