King Under No Illusions As Edwardstone Faces Old Foe Jonbon

Alan King is thrilled to continue Edwardstone's journey when he locks horns with old foe Jonbon when again on Saturday as both featured amongst the 6 declarations for the Betfair Ascot Chase.


The duo have actually frequently taken on over two miles through their professions, however now do fight over a brand-new range, with Edwardstone arriving off the back of a heartfelt success in the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton last month.


King stated: "The old young boy appears in good form. I would have preferred slightly better ground, but it is the method it is and we'll see how he gets on.


"It was excellent to see him win at Kempton last time and his interest and work at home is almost as excellent as it has always been, it was charming to see him get his head in front again. It offered myself and the whole team a big amount of enjoyment.


"There is a lot of prize-money up for grabs and we'll see if we can get a piece. We're under no illusions about taking on the 2 big guns so we'll see how we get on."


Jonbon has actually won two Melling Chases over an intermediate journey and requiring every backyard of the minimum distance when notching back-to-back Clarence House Chase triumphes at this track last time out, is reunited with Nico de Boinville at a venue where he has an impeccable record.


Edwardstone rolled back the years at Kempton (Steven Paston/PA)


Edwardstone are Jonbon 12 and 10 respectively and they are joined in the line-up by another senior statesman, with Paul Nicholls' 11-year-old Pic D'orhy bidding to win the race for a record 3rd time having taken home initially reward for the last 2 seasons.


Dan Skelton runs Heltenham, with stablemates Etalon and Riskintheground losing out, with Classic Maestro and Blow Your Wad on debut for Gary and Josh Moore finishing the line-up.