Jonbon shortened further at the top of the market for the Champion Chase after an impressive peformance to land his second Grade 1 Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown.
The best horse racing betting sites made Nicky Henderson’s stable star a 9/4 chance for Wednesday’s two-mile feature race at the Cheltenham Festival next year.
Jonbon, who went off an 8/13 chance on Saturday afternoon, saw off Henry De Bromhead’s Irish raider Quilixios (15/2) by eight lengths and looked very comfortable for the most part.
The eight-year-old got in close to a few fences and gave favourite backers a slight scare towards the start but he quickly got into rhythm and delivered in style, making most of the running before pulling away from his market rival.
The son of Walk In The Park has now accumulated over £1 million in prize money – almost double the figure (£570,000) he was bought for by JP McManus in November 2020.
In 19 career runs, Jonbon has tallied 16 wins including eight Grade 1 victories. To cement his name as an all-time great, he’s only really missing a Cheltenham Festival win.
WATCH: Jonbon lands the 2024 Tingle Creek for back-to-back triumphs
🏆JONBON WINS THE TINGLE CREEK 🏆
Some horse. Back-to-back wins for this legend 👏 #ITVRacing | @NdeBoinville | @sevenbarrows pic.twitter.com/KsZLS5gkkR
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) December 7, 2024
Champion Chase market heats up as Jonbon shortens to 9/4
Jonbon’s main competitor who stands between him and his first Festival success is probably Willie Mullins’ Gaelic Warrior (4/1), who is likely to contend for the Champion Chase after winning the Arkle as a novice last year.
Considering that horse has a few quirks himself such as jumping right over his fences which could cost him around a left-handed track, some might think Jonbon is the more straightforward of the two and therefore the most likely winner.
Gaelic Warrior’s stablemate El Fabiolo (8/1) disgraced himself in the Champion Chase last year with a race-ending error at the fifth fence and after being served up on a silver platter by Jonbon in the Celebration Chase at Sandown in April, there’s talk of him going down the Ryanair route this time around.
That would leave Energumene (10/1) as the other Mullins chance in the race, the ten-year-old who holds two Champion Chase titles but hasn’t been seen since April 2023 and makes his return in the Grade 2 Hilly Way Chase at Cork on Sunday.
Whichever direction you’re looking in, this one is bound to be a cracker.
