King Under No Illusions As Edwardstone Faces Old Foe Jonbon
Alan King is delighted to continue Edwardstone's journey when he locks horns with old foe Jonbon once again on Saturday as both included amongst the six statements for the Chase.
The duo have actually routinely taken on over two miles through their careers, now do battle 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 said: "The old boy seems in great type. I would have chosen slightly much better ground, however it is the way it is and we'll see how he gets on.
"It was terrific to see him win at Kempton last time and his interest and work at home is almost as good as it has actually always been, it was lovely to see him get his head in front once again. It provided 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 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 actually won two Melling Chases over an intermediate trip and having needed every yard of the minimum distance when notching back-to-back Clarence House Chase success at this track last time out, is reunited with Nico de Boinville at a venue where he has an impressive 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 third time having actually taken home initially reward for the last two seasons.
Dan Skelton runs Heltenham, with stablemates Etalon and Riskintheground missing out, with Jennie Candlish's Classic Maestro and Blow Your Wad on launching for Gary and Josh Moore finishing the line-up.