Billionaires can buy most things, but Wednesday’s Queen Mother Champion Chase has been frustratingly elusive for JP McManus, an omission his big hope Jonbon is favourite to finally fill.
McManus paid out the guts of €700,000 to buy the brother to Douvan in 2020, a purchase that will feel like a bargain to the Irish businessman if it finally delivers success in the two-mile crown.
His famous silks have been carried to Champion Hurdle glory a record nine times. Synchronised’s 2012 Gold Cup victory was hugely significant to the large McManus operation. There have been four Stayers' Hurdle victories too.
Completing the set of Cheltenham’s big championship events though has proved a problem.
Cheltenham 2025 day two: Live updates, race results and reaction with Champion Chase the feature
Stark demonstration of Irish power as no home runner in historic trial for future Gold Cup contenders
‘I’d pick the Champion Chase over the Gold Cup any day of the week’ - Barry Connell
Cheltenham: ‘Finished article’ Jonbon favourite to deliver Champion Chase glory for owner JP McManus
It looked ripe for plucking five years ago when Defi Du Seuil started at 2-5 only to flop in fourth. Coincidence punters might even point to how Douvan started even shorter, 2-9 for the 2017 Queen Mother and blew out through injury.
There is also a prevailing suspicion that Jonbon’s hugely impressive overall record might indicate preferences for tracks such as Sandown and Ascot rather than steeplechasing’s spiritual home.
It seems a begrudging tack to take. In 20 career starts, Jonbon has been beaten just three times – all at Cheltenham, but hardly out of the blue.
Chasing home Constitution Hill in the 2022 Supreme was no shame. Finishing runner-up to a peak El Fabiolo was no Arkle disgrace a year later. A Clarence House defeat was hardly down to location but rather a rank round of jumping. He also began this season with a course success.
It’s a large overall CV that, nevertheless, needs victory now to seal Jonbon as a genuine champion.
“Some people are saying he doesn’t like Cheltenham, but I can’t believe it’s the track, as he has won here before,” said trainer Nicky Henderson who has done a characteristically masterful job in channelling a combustible character’s nervous energy to best effect.
“He seems to be the finished article nowadays and looks easier to manoeuvre. He’s very sensible in his races and he’s quite simple. I suppose a few years ago, you had to handle him with kid gloves as anything would upset him, while away days and things were a trauma to him and us. He’d just sweat a lot. He’s got a lot better. We have our own little ways of getting around these things nowadays, with earplugs as a way to keep a lid on it,” he added.
Taking on Jonbon are half a dozen Irish hopes including Captain Guinness who sprang a shock in this race a year ago and Energumene who won back-to-back in 2022-23. Only the 1980s champion Badsworth Boy has won the race three times.
If softer ground would help Energumene’s chance, the opposite applies to Marine Nationale. The 2023 Supreme winner’s performance levels have been steadily improving this season although on strict form terms he has a task on his hands against Solness.
The latter has been a transformed character this winter, stepping up to Grade One level with an aplomb that previously looked unlikely. That trailblazing style promises to turn the race into the true test of quick jumping for which it is designed.
“Everyone knows what this lad is all about, and what he is going to do, as he will jump out and he will go forward and from there we will hope for the best,” said jockey JJ Slevin.
“Jonbon is a champion so he will be hard to beat, but hopefully we can give him a run for the money and see what happens. It is great to be in against a horse like Jonbon and seeing if we can beat him,” he added.
Such comments underline how the Day Two feature revolves around the favourite. As a nine-year-old Jonbon looks like being at his career peak and ripe to seal it with the two-mile contest that matters most, not least to his owner.
