Jonbon landed the tenth Grade Certainly one of his profession as he safely retained his My Pension Professional Melling Chase crown at Aintree.
Nicky Henderson’s 4/6 favorite had come unstuck when anticipated to take the Champion Chase at Cheltenham, having to battle on for a gallant second after a nasty mistake compounded issues at first.
Solely 4 went to submit for this two-and-a-half-mile project and it didn’t take Nico de Boinville lengthy earlier than he turned up the warmth in entrance.
Willie Mullins’ El Fabiolo was thought to be his key rival, however when he got here to grief, Jonbon was left to see off Dan Skelton’s Protektorat to return out on prime, which he duly did, by three and 1 / 4 lengths.
A relieved Henderson – who had endured one other fall for Structure Hill on the opening day of the assembly – mentioned: “The horse is wonderful when he is doing that and Nico was very courageous as a result of it has been a troublesome little session for all of us. For him to exit and journey him like that, that was a man who had no fears.
“That Champion Chase does not appear to work for him. It is a pity because it simply went all fallacious in Cheltenham. The beginning went fallacious because the tape actually went throughout his face, he went backwards and then you definitely’re on the again foot from the phrase go.
“He proved at the moment that he loves doing that. He likes his personal area, like numerous us, however the horse trusts Nico and Nico trusts the horse. They know one another properly and it is beautiful to look at.”
Reduction – De Boinville punches the air as Jonbon cross the road in entrance
On a possible tilt on the King George subsequent season, he mentioned: “Nothing’s unattainable. On the finish of final 12 months JP (McManus) mentioned ‘we’re a two-miler and we’ll keep at two miles for this 12 months’, however really we got here to Aintree and went two and a half. You would be a courageous man to journey him that manner over three miles, however who is aware of?
“He will get this two and a half properly they usually’ve gone flat out at the moment. He acquired a bit drained on the finish, however any horse would after going that fast.
“He is gained the Celebration Chase (at Sandown) twice and we’ll take a look at it. He did go and win after this race final 12 months, however then he hadn’t gone to Cheltenham. We’ll see.”
In the meantime, a proud Skelton mentioned of Protektorat: “We at all times say earlier than his races he’ll flip up for us and do his finest and he has achieved once more.
“We have tried to beat Jonbon I do not know what number of instances now and we’re not fairly pretty much as good as him, it is so simple as that – that does not imply we aren’t terribly pleased with our horse.
“He at all times places his finest foot ahead and he is had an awesome 12 months. He did not fairly get as far up the sector within the Ryanair as we would hoped, however he is come again in along with his ears pricked and I can not wait to do all of it once more subsequent 12 months.”
