Jonbon once more met with Cheltenham Festival heartache in the Queen Mother Champion Chase as his bout of second-itis at this most revered of meetings continued.
Jonbon has now finished second in all three Cheltenham Festival appearances, with silver medals from the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and the Arkle preceding his distant second behind poignant winner Marine Nationale this time around. See the full result at irishracing.com.
Harsh as it may seem, this particular Nicky Henderson inmate has never remotely appeared like winning any of those three races in the Cotswolds cauldron, though on this occasion there has to be plenty of sympathy for his plight after a howling mid-race error robbed him of any chance to win, before he almost miraculously rallied up the hill to grab second spot.
The question now is very much, what next for Jonbon?
More ‘misery’ in the Cotswolds
‘Misery’ is perhaps not the right word here. Jonbon has run six times at Cheltenham in his career and has never finished worse than second. His record at the course reads 221212, with three of those defeats coming in March.
He had absolutely no answer to stablemate Constitution Hill in the 2022 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle as the winner broke the track record and came home 22 lengths clear.
In the Arkle a year later, El Fabiolo was too good, at the time seemingly destined for greatness himself, though Jonbon has achieved much more since.
Both defeats since at this track have been characterised by dramatic jumping errors. This time, it was a blunder mid-race that saw Jonbon shuffled back into last spot, adrift of his rivals and with his chance compromised irreparably.
Credit to Nico de Boinville’s partner for the manner in which he rallied in the home straight to pass the likes of Found A Fifty, Solness and Captain Guinness to get up for second, with Marine
Nationale off in the distance to secure the win.
Would Jonbon have got the better of Barry Connell’s winner bar his mistake? That’s an imponderable question but given the manner in which he finished off the race, it would be a leap of faith to rule it out.
Henderson deals with the disappointment
Ahead of Cheltenham, owner JP McManus had insisted Jonbon was now the ‘finished article’ and ready for his crowning moment.
One blip doesn’t deter from that fact and he could still have his Cheltenham coronation as he’s only nine years old and the likes of Moscow Flyer, Sprinter Sacre and Special Tiara have won the Champion Chase beyond their 10th birthdays this century.
It’s inescapable however that Jonbon’s biggest blip of this season came on this grand stage. De Boinville suggested Jonbon was ‘startled’ after being struck in the face by the tape at the start of the race and on the back foot from there.
Henderson, reflective after a second major gun had misfired in 24 hours following Constitution Hill’s first career defeat, admitted that a long career has allowed him to deal with the setbacks.
Henderson said: “We’ve learned to live with these things after all these years. Nico said he got a fright from the tape at the start and it put him on the back foot before it started. He missed his kick and all of a sudden we were where we didn’t want to be.
“It’s a great result for the winner. Marine Nationale was the horse we had to fear most so fair play to them. You’ve got to grab your opportunities and they did.”
More spring targets lie ahead
After missing Cheltenham last year, Jonbon won the Melling Chase at Aintree over 2m4f and the Celebration Chase at Sandown over 2m in the month of April.
Henderson is now likely to target one or both of those major Grade 1s again, with Aintree perhaps the most likely at this stage.
He didn’t have a desperate time at Cheltenham, his error coming in isolation and de Boinville taking his time afterwards before coming home strongly.
The naysayers will determine that Jonbon and the Cheltenham Festival are a mismatch but, in reality, he has run another Cotswolds cracker in the circumstances this year.
He’ll remain as the horse to beat in British Grade 1s this spring but his tendency for a jumping blip continues to thwart his efforts to silence his doubters and nothing he does in the months to come will change that.
Article wrtiten by Anthony Vella
