'I'm very happy with him' - can Jonbon continue on the winning trail in the Kingmaker?

The Arkle ante-post market is presuming that Jonbon will up his game here. He remains Cheltenham favourite, a best-priced 11-8 to El Fabiolo's 2-1, yet he has 3lb to find on Racing Post Ratings after last week's Irish Arkle, where El Fabiolo ran out a wide-margin winner.

The distances will have to be yawning here if Jonbon is to significantly better his own figure of 164, recorded when beating Boothill by eight lengths in December's Henry VIII at Sandown.

Any improvement on 164 would at least tie the best performance in the Kingmaker in the history of RPRs, which go back to around 1990. The current holders, Allmankind and Saint Calvados, both put double-figure margins into their rivals.

All three of those taking on Jonbon are having their first run in a Graded chase, although at least two of them have more than earned a shot at a big prize. Haddex Des Obeaux is actually the third-highest rated British-trained novice chaser at around 2m this season on RPRs. His course-and-distance win on Classic Chase day, in which he thumped subsequent winners Galop De Chasse and Third Time Lucki, is only 3lb behind what Jonbon achieved when beating Monmiral here in November. And he receives 5lb from the favourite, as do the other two runners.

Bass Rock looked a Graded novice in the making when winning at Carlisle on his chasing debut. The placed horses have since built on their efforts that day, and that Bass Rock could not win at Wetherby last time was seemingly down to him lacking a change of gear. An end-to-end gallop over 2m could well draw the improvement promised at Carlisle.

Calico has it all to do on form, being 22lb behind Jonbon even on weight-adjusted RPRs. However, he completes the set, in that all four horses could reasonably be referred to as front-runners. Going hard and finding a rhythm are key to winning the Arkle, so even if this turns out not to be a thorough test of Jonbon's form it should seriously expand his toolkit for his biggest test next month.
Race analysis by Keith Melrose

Jonbon: winning on his seasonal appearance at Warwick in NovemberCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

'He seems to be a calmer horse'

Nicky Henderson has Jonbon in prime condition as his top-class novice chaser tries to maintain his unbeaten record this season.

The JP McManus-owned seven-year-old has a bigger assignment next month, with the Arkle expected to be his destination, but he must first get past three rivals in this Grade 2 contest.

Almost 12 months on from his defeat by stablemate Constitution Hill in the Supreme, Jonbon has developed and Henderson has been overjoyed with his efforts.

He said: "Jonbon has been in great form and I'm very happy with him. The intention is that this race is one more practice run before March, but he takes everything in his stride and he's learned to relax a lot more.

"He seems to be a calmer horse altogether than he was a year ago. It's down to his races but he seems better with everything at home."

Henderson had also entered Jonbon into the Game Spirit at Newbury, but explained why the option of Warwick suited better.

He added: "I was worried with Newbury about the ground being too quick, but he might as well stay in novice company for now anyway. He's a very good horse."

What they say

Sandy Thomson, trainer of Bass Rock
There aren't many opportunities for him and he needs another run so that he's got three and other handicaps will open up for him. He'll certainly like the ground as that was slightly the issue at Wetherby, where it was a messy race. Two miles is a slight concern but he won well at Carlisle over that distance. It's not ideal taking on Jonbon but sometimes your hand is forced.

Dan Skelton, trainer of Calico
He's doing grand and won nicely last time out. There are only four runners and with the prize-money on offer we thought we'd have a crack at it. We're not thinking we're going to turn Jonbon over, and the other two runners are higher rated than us, but we wanted to take our chance.

Gary Moore, trainer of Haddex Des Obeaux
While he may not be good enough to beat Jonbon, who looked awesome at Sandown, he's a useful horse in his own right. I think the world of him. He's in good form.
Reporting by Liam Headd

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