Nicky Henderson hailed “perfect” Jonbon after the Seven Barrows superstar earned a 7-4 Arkle Challenge Trophy quote with a winning chase debut at Warwick.
The JP McManus-owned eight-year-old – Douvan’s full-brother was a record £570,000 purchase from the point-to-point ranks – brushed aside rivals Monmiral and West Cork to land odds of 2-5 for the Highflyer Bloodstock Novices’ Chase by eight lengths.
“Perfect – you couldn’t have hoped for more,” purred Henderson after unsaddling Aidan Coleman’s mount, whose sole defeat over hurdles came when a 22-length second to stablemate Constitution Hill at Cheltenham last March.
“It was a good test. Those are good fences down the back – they have to be jumped. This isn’t a racecourse to take lightly over fences for a novice – there are easier – and he was pretty flawless there.”
Henderson will now step Jonbon, no bigger than 2-1 for the Cheltenham Festival ’s two-mile novice chase on March 14, up to the top level for the Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices’ Chase at Sandown Park on December 3.
“He’s got two and a half weeks to the Henry VIII at Sandown and that’s where we’d like to go next,” he added. “The whole idea was to get a race in if we could and it just gives us enough time, I hope.
“Most of our horses are needing the run and coming on for it and I don’t see why he wouldn’t do the same. He’ll learn but he couldn’t have been much better at his jumping and those were two good horses. It’s a beginning. It’s exciting.”
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