Jonbon and Nico de Boinville© Photo Healy Racing
Jonbon will face a maximum of seven rivals when he bids for back-to-back victories in the Betfair Tingle Creek at Sandown on Saturday.
Nicky Henderson’s star chaser was a decisive winner of the Grade One contest 12 months ago and will be a warm order to successfully defend his title after winning Cheltenham’s Shloer Chase for the second successive season in mid-November.
He is likely to renew rivalry with the runner-up in that Grade Two contest, Harry Fry’s Boothill, as well as the third-placed Edwardstone, who claimed the 2022 Tingle Creek for Alan King and finished best of the rest behind Jonbon last term.
Henry de Bromhead’s Quilixios is a major contender from Ireland after comfortably beating Marine Nationale on his reappearance at Naas, while Joseph O’Brien could send Solness.
Joe Tizzard’s Haldon Gold Cup hero JPR One, Dan Skelton’s Unexpected Party and the Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Master Chewy complete the potential field, with the latter expected to improve for his comeback run when fourth in a valuable handicap at Ascot a month ago.
Willy Twiston-Davies, assistant to his father, said: “He’s an intended runner, definitely. He deserves his shot at a race like this.
“He ran a very good race at Aintree in the spring (beaten a head by Found A Fifty) and was running a very good race in the Arkle (before falling).
“He’ll definitely improve for the run at Ascot. He had a lot of weight on good ground that day and he’s much more effective on soft ground.
“We’re quite excited about running him on Saturday. Obviously we know the task ahead, but I think he has an each-way chance and I wouldn’t be shocked if he sprung a surprise.”
Race sponsors Betfair make Jonbon their 1-2 favourite, with old rival Edwardstone next at 11-2 and Quilixios a 13-2 shot.
