Jonbon, the 8-13 favourite, overcame a misstep at the second fence to preserve his unblemished record at Sandown with a commanding victory in the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase. This marked his fifth triumph at the track and his second consecutive win in the premier two-mile chase. Nico de Boinville, Jonbon’s jockey, skillfully maintained his position after Jonbon took off prematurely at the first ditch. He quickly regained a better rhythm, executing three flawless leaps at the Railway fences on the far side of the track. Jonbon surged ahead of Quilixios between the final two fences, winning by eight lengths. Betfair, the race’s sponsor, immediately slashed his odds to 5-2 (from 7-2 joint-favourite) for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham on 12 March.
“In this ground, you have to be 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 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, affirming his status as Britain’s leading two-mile novice with a three-and-a-quarter-length victory in the Grade One Henry VIII Novice Chase. L’Eau Du Sud, who was narrowly beaten in two of the season’s most competitive handicap hurdles last season, showed determination to overcome 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.”
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