King Under No Illusions As Edwardstone Faces Old Foe Jonbon

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


The duo have routinely faced off over 2 miles through their professions, today do battle over a brand-new range, with Edwardstone showing up off the back of a heartwarming success in the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton last month.


King stated: "The old boy appears in great type. I would have preferred somewhat better ground, but it is the way it is and we'll see how he gets on.


"It was to see him win at Kempton last time and his enthusiasm and work at home is nearly as great as it has actually always been, it was charming to see him get his head in front again. It offered myself and the entire group a huge quantity 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 impressions about taking on the two huge guns so we'll see how we get on."


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


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


Edwardstone are Jonbon 12 and 10 respectively and they are participated 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 third time having actually taken home initially reward for the last 2 seasons.


Dan Skelton runs Heltenham, with stablemates Etalon and Riskintheground missing out on out, with Jennie Candlish's Classic Maestro and Blow Your Wad on launching for Gary and Josh Moore completing the line-up.