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 when again on Saturday as both featured amongst the 6 statements for the Betfair Ascot Chase.


The duo have routinely faced off over two miles through their professions, now do battle over a new range, with Edwardstone arriving off the back of a heartwarming success in the Chase at Kempton last month.


King stated: "The old young boy appears in excellent type. I would have preferred somewhat much better ground, however 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 nearly as excellent as it has actually always been, it was lovely to see him get his head in front again. It gave myself and the whole group a huge amount of satisfaction.


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


Jonbon has actually won two Melling Chases over an intermediate trip and requiring every lawn of the minimum range when notching back-to-back Clarence House Chase victories at this track last time out, is reunited with Nico de Boinville at a location 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 signed up with in the line-up by another older statesman, with Paul Nicholls' 11-year-old Pic D'orhy bidding to win the race for a record 3rd time having taken home first prize for the last two seasons.


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