Road To Cheltenham: Lydia Hislop's views on Jonbon, Energumene and more

They really must not stop meeting like this. Once again, Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins are magnetically attracted to Ascot in January via their flagship two-mile chasers colliding in the Clarence House – weather permitting.

In 2022, the head-to-head between Shishkin and Energumene was the talk of the winter, the former’s zenith performance seeming to put revenge beyond the latter in the subsequent Queen Mother Champion Chase. Yet, under a change of tactics, Energumene went on to forge the more consistent top-class career whereas mercurial Shishkin seemed to leave an important part of his brain somewhere in that field in Berkshire. All right.

Last year, it had been Mullins’ intention to pitch El Fabioloagainst Jonbon in the same race until frost forced its abandonment for the second year running and he backed out, the rescheduled version for a lesser pot on Trials Day literally not worth his effort.

He’d also seen Energumene beaten in the rescheduled version a week later for an even smaller purse at Cheltenham in 2023. Once bitten, twice shy – though at the time he blamed Britain’s then newly white guard rails, take-off boards and trim. Sadly for domestic trainers, however, a pot of paint was not a long-term defence.

Yet being stuck in a holding pattern for seven days didn’t suit Jonbon either, as he underperformed for a number of conspiring reasons – fully discussed earlier in this series. [link to Road 2]

Both trainers clearly like the intended positioning of this race as a stepping-stone to the Festival. They’ve each won it three times since it became a Grade One in 2007 – Henderson with Sprinter Sacre in 2013 and Altior in 2019, as well as with Shishkin, and Mullins via Un De Sceaux’s hat-trick of successive victories from 2016. (Henderson also won it three times previously, when it was a handicap, with Tysou in 2006, Isio in 2004 and Big Matt in 1996.)

However, Mullins is usually only propelled across the Irish Sea when he’s got two or more top-notchers simultaneously on the go in this division – Douvan or Min alongside Un De Sceaux, then Chacun Pour Soi and Gentlemen De Mee, plus now El Fabiolo and Gaelic Warrior alongside Energumene.

And so, following the exploits of last weekend, history is set to repeat itself. Fingers crossed the sky has rained itself out by then.

At Sandown last Saturday, Jonbon had the more straightforward task of the pair. He clearly thought it no sweat, too, presenting the most placid pre-race demeanour in his career to date. In fact, for a horse whose trademark pre-race look is a 90s mosh-pit, he was almost unnervingly calm.

Admittedly, he had skipped the pre-parade and went straight from saddling boxes to paddock – a move that’s increasingly the norm for most runners at Sandown (and some don’t even make it to the parade ring at all), much to the irritation of their most faithful attendees. But he didn’t even start dancing when Nico De Boinville climbed on board, as he had prior to the Shloer Chase when otherwise similarly chilled.

“The nice thing about him now is he’s so much more relaxed in everything he does,” Henderson said. “A couple of years ago, if he was here, he’d be dripping with sweat, we’d keep him out of the way, calm him down, wash him down whereas now he’s travelling to the races relaxed and he’s walking around the paddock, taking it all in without fussing about it. Yes, he has ear-plugs in and things like that but he’s a much more relaxed person.

“You sometimes worry has he switched off too much, but obviously he doesn’t do that… It’s nice, it makes life much easier for everyone. [Yet] change his routine and it fusses him and he will get upset, but he knows his routine and we do, too, so it’s not too difficult.”

The field Jonbon beat was slightly depleted – outsider Unexpected Party a defector due to the ground and place player Boothill waylaid by trainer Harry Fry’s transport problems due to Storm Darragh battering the south and west of the country. Sandown itself had to pass two inspections due to the fear of high winds. This race also got going at the second attempt, after they rushed the starter first time around.

Chief Irish raider Quilixios – ridden by Jonathan Burke after Darragh O’Keeffe suffered travel difficulties of his own – narrowly led to the first, where the other overseas voyager Solness pecked. Jonbon stood off and joined the leader on landing, before overdoing the same trick and reaching for the second fence – his only error of the round.

“The horse likes to be aggressive,” Henderson observed. “We tried to sit on that a bit in the Shloer and then have him so he could have a big attack today, and he did that. He’s not frightened to bring the fight to the front.”

It was to Quilixios that he primarily took it, the pair jumping well and alongside each other, their swift accuracy finding out first Solness with a mistake at the fourth and then, more predictably, Master Chewy with a lunging fall at the sixth. That was also where Jonbon edged ahead with a magnificently forceful leap and, ears pricked looking for the next fence, never looked likely to relinquish control. At the third of the Railway fences, Edwardstone hit the top and crumpled to his knees. 

At the Pond Fence, with Solness already barely keeping up, de Boinville injected some pace – “they just get on really well together, they understand [each other],” the trainer later commented. 

JPR One suddenly found himself three lengths off the pace. Only Quilixios was able to raise his game to any degree, and that only briefly. Whereas Jonbon skipped away approaching the last and was nimble over his final obstacles, his chief pursuer weakened on the final climb to the finish.

The three second-season chasers in this line-up were by no means the leading proponents of the two-mile novice division last season. Those plaudits belong primarily to emphatic Arkle winner Gaelic Warrior. If anything, soon-departing guesser Master Chewy boasted the best novice effort amongst this crowd, via his narrow second to Found A Fifty in Aintree’s Maghull Novices’ Chase.

However, both placed horses have upgraded their form this season. Quilixios backed up his Naas defeat of hard-to-assess Marine Nationale here, whilst JPR One improved again on his seasonal debut success in the Haldon Gold Cup. Neither are in Jonbon’s league, though. The winner is consistent, sound and clearly in his prime; if anything, this was a marginal career best.

Yet if Energumene is able to return to something like his peak form, Jonbon will need better again. He is still a little way short of what Altior regularly achieved in his prime, and Shishkin once, and is unlikely ever to match the monstrous Sprinter Sacre. This standard is still attainable for a top-class rival.

Whether that’s a viable prospect for his two-years-older rival must remain in some doubt, even though Energumene showcased all of his old zest with his comeback triumph at Cork last Sunday, his third in the Grade Two Hilly Way. 

The winner’s jumping was characteristically aggressive, as if he’d been dreaming of fences during his 593 days on the sidelines. In front by the second, he attacked the sixth and seventh to such a degree that a number of his rivals found their technique coming under pressure.

Smart though she is, and admittedly lacking a fitness edge, stablemate Dinoblue yet again proved her jumping is not fluent enough for this rarefied level, even though she made no particular error you could point to bar the scruffy third last. She would eventually inherit second. Hunters Yarn meanwhile struggled with all elements of this task on his first start since also being outclassed in the Arkle, and couldn’t even finish in front of 80/1 shot The Banger Doyle.

Appreciate It’s round was a microcosm of his existence – good enough to run with credit, but not quick enough to get involved at this level. The other side of the same coin awaits when he goes back up in trip, as his best efforts remain over two miles. Rising 11 years of age and not having won a race for almost two years, he needs more help than the 2lbs drop he received.

Although his literal form wasn’t up to much, the year-younger Blue Lord hinted at ability retained on his first start in 13 months. His keenness propelled him forward until his lack of race-fitness found him out, and Danny Mullins was sympathetic to those challenges. Next time will tell us much more.

Unfortunately, there will be no next time for Ferny Hollow, who took a thumping fall at the second last from which he never recovered, despite getting shakily to his feet. It was a terribly sad end to a star-crossed career.

Only Banbridge could live with Energumene’s pace and – despite conceding 10lbs for his Grade One defeat of Captain Guinness and Dinoblue at the Punchestown Festival last April – would have tested his finishing resolve but for jinking right at the last and unseating Richie Deegan.

The winner played a part in his downfall, though. His habitual jump execution – involving a shift to the right on take-off – became more pronounced in the straight as his earlier exertions began to tell. Brought to the stands’ side on a right-handed track by Paul Townend, he had a lot of space to run down his fences and became an obvious crash hazard for his opponents.

He got into the bottom of three out and shouldered through it, then continued to adjust markedly right at the final two fences – whilst still tackling them with relish – and at the last intimidated Banbridge into the avoidance tactics that tipped Deegan’s balance out of the saddle.

Arguments can and did rage about whether any fault could be apportioned for the interference. The Cork stewards had a look and decided no riding offence had been committed. Yet could Townend have taken measures to keep Energumene straighter, and/or might Deegan have been advised to make his challenge wider?

Ruby Walsh will be addressing those questions in this week’s edition of the Road To Cheltenham show. For me, Energumene’s proclivities have been present all his jumping life and were certainly telegraphed throughout here, particularly the straight. Deegan must have seen him shift markedly right at the two previous fences at least.

It’s also worth recalling what happened when Edwardstone challenged Energumene hard on the latter’s right flank in last term’s Clarence House. Afforded zero space to adjust right on take-off, Energumene made a chance-ending error. Shifting right is his method of building up the power to jump; that’s how he’s always done it.

As Edwardstone and Tom Cannon demonstrated, it can be an Achilles’ heel – provided you’re classy and quick enough to be able to jump directly upsides on his right. Banbridge wasn’t. That said, he was in the process of running a career best, albeit he held the advantage of a recent race over the winner.

Delighted with Energumene though Mullins was, he isn’t sure there will be as much improvement from this seasonal debut as might usually be expected. Earlier in the season, he’d reported the horse to be hitting every target, so he ran in the condition his trainer intended – and, after such a long lay-off, that would have been pretty fit.

“He just did today what he was showing me at home and even more. He was so exuberant at some of his fences, he took out of Paul’s hands a few times there,” Mullins enthused.

“The plan wasn’t to make it… Mark [Walsh on Dinoblue] said he wanted to make it and I said that’s fine, that’ll suit us, to get a lead. But Paul said after one or two fences, he just wanted to gallop and jump. And he did that. Paul said he wasn’t going to fight him. I love to see a horse in that frame of mind, with that attitude.”

Asked by Gary O’Brien how much better the horse can be, Mullins added: “I don’t know. When horses get older, they mightn’t improve as much as you think they could as young horses. But if he can put in that sort of a run again… I think that was a fair effort for his first run of the season.” 

Superb though it was to see the dual Champion Chase winner back with such verve, in pure form terms this was a good stone below his 2023 Festival success – his peak effort of that term, when he didn’t reach the same heights as consistently as the previous season.

To repeat, he’s rising eleven and the last horse to win Cheltenham’s flagship two-miler at that age was Moscow Flyer back in 2005. Since the race was first run in 1959, the only other horse to triumph as an 11-year-old was Skymas in 1976 – and he won it the following year, too, making him a proper anomaly.

Whilst Energumene heads next to Ascot, Leopardstown’s Christmas Grade One Rewards Club Chase is the scene set for Gaelic Warrior’s return – and that’s likely to be no light ask against more seasoned, race-fit rivals.

However, their stablemate El Fabiolo has slipped further behind schedule following “an early-season setback”. At the start of November in his sportinglife.com stable tour, Mullins had said the 2023 Arkle winner “might not come out until Christmas”, but by the end of the month in the Racing Post version, he said “it will be Christmas or after it when you see him back”.

At Cork last Sunday, it was clear the timeline has become more elastic. Asked by O’Brien whether El Fabiolo is going to play a part in his Christmas squad, Mullins said: “No, he’s not. He’s a good bit behind Energumene fitness-wise, but everything he’s doing is right and I’m very, very happy with him.”

Meanwhile, Joseph O’Brien has indicated the King George is a potential next option for Banbridge provided the ground is not too testing. He will need to prove his stamina for three miles, having tried it only once previously over hurdles when beaten before stamina was the issue.

He will no longer encounter Protektorat at Kempton after that horse – along with Ginny’s Destiny – was thumped by Djelo in last Sunday’s Grade Two Peterborough Chase.

Still merely a six-year-old at this stage, the winner had already posted improved form when a rallying three-quarter-length second to JPR One in the Haldon Gold Cup on seasonal debut.

On that occasion at Exeter – over a shorter trip and sounder surface than he faced at Huntingdon – he didn’t travel or jump as well as the winner but still left the strong impression he could reverse the form on another day, even at level weights rather than in receipt of 2lbs.

Much like Energumene but not as markedly, Djelo adjusts right when jumping – he did so all last season as a novice, when his best performance came at Ascot in winning the Grade Two Noel Chase.

He also finished third, eight lengths behind Ginny’s Destiny when that horse ran Grey Dawning to two lengths in testing ground in last season’s Turners Novices’ Chase at the Festival. On that occasion, this trio shaped like the three classiest acts in the race, moving on from the rest of the field approaching three out before the main two shrugged Djelo off on the home turn.

Yet Venetia Williams’ charge stuck doughtily to his task, seeing out the two-and-a-half-mile trip on the galloping left-handed New Course really well.

So far, Ginny’s Destiny has failed to get close to his novice-chasing form, let alone upgrade it. There have been excuses. He’s notoriously hard to get fit and was “big as a bull” for his reappearance in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, where he also dragged his hind legs exiting the water jump prior to being pulled up.

Here, under an asset-neutralising change of tactics and on heavy ground that perhaps blunts his pace, he at least finished off his race but didn’t jump that well and was never remotely threatening. Meanwhile, Ryanair hero Protektorat hung and jumped out to his left, as he has in the past, and looked laboured at all stages until finally hauling himself into second.

It’s possible Huntingdon’s right-handed orientation not only exaggerated the winner’s dominance but also suppressed the capabilities of his closest pursuers. Here is a table of this trio’s lifetime form to date, over hurdles and fences combined, on left and right-handed tracks.

It’s relevant to point out that left-handed Pattern and Listed races outnumber right-handed targets at almost every distance division in Britain, except for non-novice two-mile chasing in which there is parity in number but right-handed tracks just edge it in cumulative prestige. So, generally speaking, campaigns that are right-hand focussed tend to be more conscious decisions in all divisions bar that last.

Therefore, I take it as significant that Djelo has competed in more right-handed races than the other way around. According to Timeform, his best three performances are right-handed, the last two perhaps just coinciding with his progressive maturity.

Since being beaten at odds of 1-2 at Wincanton in January 2021, Protektorat has raced exclusively left-handed until last Sunday. On the Nick Luck Daily podcast on Monday, trainer Dan Skelton said this effort: “I didn’t think going right-handed would be the difference between winning and losing, but actually it was – I feel.”

 “We rode him the way we rode him because we felt it might protect him from jumping out to the left, but it didn’t make any difference,” he added. “Harry [Skelton, his jockey] was having a row with him the whole way around. The only time he ran straight was after the last when there’s no jumps to jump.” 

The conclusion being “it’s too much of a fight to go right-handed with him” again, Kempton is off Protektorat’s agenda. Skelton also asserted this defeat, with all its caveats, had “proved his wellbeing”. Previously, he was too exuberant prior to fading in the Paddy Power Gold Cup. Both efforts have been appreciably below the level of form he showed all last season bar his disastrous start in the Betfair Chase.

Ginny’s Destiny’s forays right-handed are certainly not numerous enough, nor do they appear to contain comparable visual evidence, yet to draw the conclusion that Huntingdon was definitely a contributing factor in this defeat. Yes, it was the first time Paul Nicholls had run him away from a left-handed track, but once a horse with that conducive a handicap mark showed a clear aptitude for Cheltenham last season, his campaign wrote itself.

He was best served by assertive tactics on a sound surface then, and this was the opposite of that. Equally, he may not currently be capable of that level of form, whatever the circumstances, for whatever reason. I’m suspending judgment, but teetering towards the negative.

Djelo, meanwhile, heads to the Fleur De Lys Chase in the form of his life. This is still a relatively new race, bringing together rivals with varying distance requirements over 2m6f. Windsor replaces Lingfield as its host from 2025, with Jump racing returning to that venue after a 20-year hiatus this Sunday.

Old skoolers will scarcely recognise it, however, with the figure-of-eight layout replaced by a continuous left-handed circuit. It will be intriguing to discover how it rides.