Il Etait Temps second only to Altior in rankings of last ten Celebration winners after smashing personal best rating

The standout performance at Sandown on Saturday as the British jumps season came to an exciting conclusion cropped up in the Celebration Chase, courtesy of Il Etait Temps. 

The time of the race was relatively the best on the card. Jonbon was odds-on favourite to complete a hat-trick in the contest but, following a tough season and having possibly gone too hard from the front, could manage only second behind Il Etait Temps, who achieved a career-best Racing Post Rating of 175. It is the second-highest RPR afforded to the winner of the race in the past decade, bettered only by Altior. 

While Jonbon put in a decent enough performance given his RPR of 169, it was below his best and what he had achieved in the race for the past two seasons. Energumene (160) was best of the rest, though it is likely the 11-year-old no longer possesses the ability he once had.