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 opponent Jonbon when again on Saturday as both included amongst the six declarations for the Betfair Ascot Chase.


The duo have regularly taken on over two miles through their professions, and now do battle over a brand-new range, with Edwardstone showing up off the back of a heartfelt success in the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton last month.


King said: "The old kid appears in excellent kind. I would have preferred somewhat much better ground, however it is the way it is and we'll see how he gets on.


"It was excellent to see him win at Kempton last time and his enthusiasm and work at home is nearly as great as it has always been, it was charming to see him get his head in front once again. It gave myself and the entire team a substantial quantity of enjoyment.


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


Jonbon has won 2 Melling Chases over an intermediate trip and requiring every backyard of the minimum distance when Clarence House Chase victories at this track last time out, is reunited with Nico de Boinville at a place 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 taken part the line-up by another elder statesman, with Paul Nicholls' 11-year-old Pic D'orhy bidding to win the race for a record 3rd time having taken home initially prize for the last two 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 debut for Gary and Josh Moore completing the line-up.