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 foe Jonbon as soon as again on Saturday as both featured amongst the six statements for the Betfair Ascot Chase.


The duo have regularly dealt with off over two miles through their careers, however now do battle over a 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 young boy seems in excellent kind. I would have chosen slightly much better ground, however it is the method it is and we'll see how he gets on.


"It was great to see him win at Kempton last time and his enthusiasm and work at home is almost as excellent as it has constantly been, it was beautiful to see him get his head in front once again. It offered myself and the entire group a substantial amount of pleasure.


"There is a lot of prize-money up for grabs and we'll see if we can pick up 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 2 Melling Chases over an intermediate journey and having required every lawn 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 place where he has an impeccable record.


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


Edwardstone are Jonbon 12 and 10 respectively and they are participated 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 2 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.