Henderson excited by Ascot ‘mega clash’ in Clarence House

Nicky Henderson is counting down to the “mega clash” between Jonbon and Energumene in the BetMGM Clarence House Chase at Ascot on Saturday after the two chief protagonists headlined the four declarations on Thursday.

The Grade One is the centrepiece of the Berkshire Winter Million, with meetings at Windsor on Friday and Sunday either side of it for the first time this year.

While some may be disappointed with the small field size, only four went to post in 2022 when Willie Mullins’ dual Champion Chase hero Energumene came over for his first crack at the race.

Racegoers were treated to an epic battle, with Henderson’s Shishkin just coming out on top and the Seven Barrows handler is hoping Jonbon can repeat the trick in what could be a mouthwatering event.

Henderson told Racing TV: “If you go back to the Energumene and Shishkin day it was built up as something special and it was, it was a real belter of a race, one for the history books, just a great race.

“Now good old Energumene, and we know how good he is, he is back again. We’ve had to change the batting and dear old Shishkin – he never was actually a two-miler at the end of the day, I learned that that day even though he won – but Jonbon is a two-miler so it is going to be interesting.”

Owned by Brighton & Hove Albion’s Tony Bloom, Energumene is now 11 but showed the fire still burns brightly when winning the Hilly Way on his return from almost 600 days off.

Meanwhile, Jonbon’s record stands up to the closest scrutiny, as he has won 11 of 13 races over fences with his only defeats coming in the Arkle behind El Fabiolo and in this race 12 months ago when it was rearranged for Cheltenham and jumping errors cost him.

He was immaculate in winning the Tingle Creek by eight lengths and is favourite to win another Grade One and Henderson is predicting a “fascinating” contest with regular foes Alan King’s Edwarstone and Harry Fry’s Boothill also engaged.

“It will be a fascinating race and you can’t forget the others too, they are also very good horses. So we look forward to it,” continued the Seven Barrows handler.

“Willie and I have had a couple of scraps over Christmas and we’re very much still talking but we owe him a few after last year and a few other days. It’s him and I again and he will be trying to get his own back.

“Paddy (Murphy) who rides Jonbon every day is very happy and Nico (de Boinville) jumped five fences on him on Tuesday and he was very happy and we think we are where we need to be for a mega clash.”

Another highlight on the card is the British debut of Jonbon’s stablemate Lulamba in the BetMGM Juvenile Hurdle.

His price collapsed last week for the Triumph Hurdle ahead of his anticipated debut at Kempton and he faces six rivals on this occasion.