Celebration Chase preview: views from Henderson and Skelton
By Racing TV
Last Updated: Fri 24 Apr 2026
Jonbon returns to his beloved Sandown on Saturday looking to win the bet365 Celebration Chase for a third time – and with it an incredible 13th Grade One in total.
Beaten by current champion chaser Il Etait Temps 12 months ago when bidding for a hat-trick, for the first time in his career the 10-year-old has lost more races than he has won during the season.
Nevertheless, Nicky Henderson’s charge has still claimed two Grade Ones at the Ascot, the latter over two miles and five furlongs which convinced connections to run in the Ryanair at Cheltenham where he finished second.
Back at two miles Henderson admits he might prefer further these days, but he has won five of his seven career outings at the Esher track.
“It’s his annual goodbye for the season,” Henderson told Racing TV. “He did get beaten in it last year having won it the previous two.
“He’s in good form. We missed Aintree this year on purpose as like a lot of them they had quite hard races at Cheltenham and despite a four-week break I just felt that another two weeks was going to help.
“I hope I’m right, it seems right. He is happier going a little bit more than two miles these days, but he loves Sandown.”
Dan Skelton has a very strong hand in Thistle Ask, whose incredible winning run was ended by Jonbon in the Clarence House, and Mirabad, a surprise Grade One winner at Aintree but still a novice.
“The pair of them have improved a remarkable amount this season. You could write a story about Thistle Ask, he’s gone from 115 to 160,” said Skelton.
“He had a very hard race when he took on Jonbon in the Clarence House and took a month to get over it, but the ground will be very much in his favour and he’s going to be a fresh horse so you’d have to give him a chance.
“Cheltenham was never in my mind for him, but the decision was taken out of our hands in the end as he wasn’t quite at his best. There’s no two-mile race at Aintree and he’s at his best right-handed anyway.
“They’ve met once and Jonbon has won once. Jonbon has achieved more and it’s going to be hard to beat him, but I think if we ever could, it’s going to be on this type of ground on Saturday.
“Mirabad has just been remarkable, he does have a bit to find and is technically still a novice, but he’s been remarkable and is in very good form.
“He clearly likes the ground and he likes his new run style, being held up, so we thought the iron is currently hot so we may as well strike.”
Skelton has big chances all afternoon, including Kabral Du Mathan in the bet365 Select Hurdle.
Formerly trained by the newly-crowned champion trainer’s ex-boss Paul Nicholls, the six-year-old was hugely impressive in winning his first two starts for the Skelton team and lined up in the Stayers’ Hurdle at last month’s Cheltenham Festival as a major contender.
After travelling to the final flight looking like the winner, Kabral Du Mathan appeared to have his stamina limitations exposed over three miles, leaving some asking whether he should in fact have been lining up in the Champion Hurdle over two miles 48 hours earlier.
“A few people said to me that I ran him in the wrong race at Cheltenham, but I don’t think we did. We never felt he was a champion hurdler, if we did we have run him in it,” said the Alcester handler.
“I think he could end up in an Arkle next year. He’ll certainly be starting over two miles over fences – two miles over fences is a bit different.
“It was remarkable watching the Stayers’ Hurdle, but that is sport – we thought we’d won on landing at the last, but very quickly we realised we hadn’t. We were still very proud of him, we didn’t know he wouldn’t quite stay the last furlong but we take it on board.
“We don’t think we left a Champion Hurdle behind, though.”
Kabral Du Mathan’s rivals include Jingko Blue, winner of the BetMGM Cup at Cheltenham but only sixth when stepped up in class for the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree a fortnight ago. He is one of two runners for Nicky Henderson along with Lucky Place.
Harry Fry saddles Altobelli, who lines up fresh having been off the track since finishing second to Potters Charm in a valuable event at Windsor in January.
“We obviously haven’t seen him since the Winter Million meeting, partly because he needs to go right-handed, so options aren’t so plentiful,” said Fry.
“He’s got a bit to find at the weights on ratings, but he’s fresh and has been knocking on the door this season, so hopefully he can be competitive before he goes chasing next season.”
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