Henderson looking at longer options after Jonbon’s Creek eclipse

Nicky Henderson conceded a step up in trip is likely for Jonbon after watching his Sandown stalwart surrender his Betfair Tingle Creek crown with a brave effort in the Esher gloom.

The nine-year-old was bidding to become the first horse to win six Grade Ones at the same venue in the UK, as over 11,000 flocked to watch the course’s most loyal servant serve up a pre-Christmas cracker against two horses who have had his number of late.

Down the back stretch as the field tackled the famous Railway fences and even over the third last it was the Jonbon of old, jumping with enthusiasm and travelling with vigour in the hands of Nico de Boinville, but just as in April’s Celebration Chase, Willie Mullins’ 8-11 favourite Il Etait Temps was too good for the hat-trick seeking home favourite.

“He was enjoying himself and he has gone out on his shield,” said a proud Henderson.

“Il Etait Temps beat him last year and it shows that we weren’t just tired back in April. We thought the Celebration Chase might have just been the end of a long season for us, but this proves that over two miles he is just a sharper horse than us.

“He might have had his speed blunted by age and that is why we put the cheekpieces on. We were always going to lead and the others knew that and we had to keep him honest all the way and he’s the most honest person in the world, there is never any doubting that.

“The Shloer (Chase at Cheltenham) was always a practice and it was a tougher practice than it has been in past years. He’s come on from there to do what he has today, which probably would have been good enough to win the last two Tingle Creeks as well.”

The Champion Chase dream may have dimmed with Paddy Power pushing his odds for that race to 25-1, but the search for an elusive Cheltenham Festival success could now continue and having shown tenacity may replace two-mile zip, Henderson is mulling the longer options.

He added: “He loved it, he jumped and galloped and got into a good battle and we managed to reverse the form with Dan’s (Skelton) horse (L’Ead Du Sud).

“You have got to be tempted to go further. We’re not going to beat Il Etait Temps over two miles at the moment and we could aim for the Ryanair or something – we’re likely to go up in trip.

“I couldn’t see us going to the King George and going from two straight to three (miles) and I would be very surprised if we did do that. Nothing is in or out and we had him entered in the Peterborough in case this was heavy. I’m not making any excuses today on ground.

“The Ascot Chase is a possible one and there’s going to be a queue of horses waiting for all these Grade Ones. The Clarence House is there as well if we did stay at two miles and I don’t know what Willie is thinking – he might have six for it, you never know.”

Il Etait Temps’ statement victory may force Jonbon to search for riches elsewhere, but Skelton is undeterred and will now focus on a Champion Chase rematch with a refreshed L’Eau Du Sud after watching his Shloer Chase hero come home a respectable third.

“I’m very happy with his performance and I don’t think we were at our best, but I’m not bemoaning anything,” said Skelton.

“We’ll have to just get him super fresh and go straight to the Champion Chase and try to have him in the form he was in for the Shloer.

“I said beforehand I had trained him for the Shloer at Cheltenham and I felt like we just kept him fresh for this in the hope we’d see something similar and I didn’t have any negatives coming in, but it just didn’t go the way we wanted.

“He’s a two-miler – look at him at Cheltenham a run ago – we can do it. I always knew Jonbon would improve and I also knew Il Etait Temps would be very hard to beat, so this doesn’t come as a surprise to us and we’re not thinking ‘wow, how did this get beat?’.

“Cheltenham is about the only time Il Etait Temps has been beaten and our lad has a good record there, so we’ll take all the hints and try to do our best in March.”