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 included among the 6 declarations for the Betfair Ascot Chase.


The duo have actually routinely taken on over 2 miles through their professions, now do battle over a new range, with Edwardstone arriving off the back of a heartfelt in the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton last month.


King stated: "The old boy appears in excellent kind. I would have preferred a little better ground, however it is the method it is and we'll see how he gets on.


"It was terrific to see him win at Kempton last time and his enthusiasm and work at home is nearly as good as it has actually always been, it was lovely to see him get his head in front 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 choose up a piece. We're under no impressions about handling the 2 huge weapons so we'll see how we get on."


Jonbon has won two Melling Chases over an intermediate trip and having required every lawn of the minimum distance when notching back-to-back Clarence House Chase triumphes at this track last time out, is reunited with Nico de Boinville at a place where he has a remarkable record.


Edwardstone 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 older statesman, with Paul Nicholls' 11-year-old Pic D'orhy bidding to win the race for a record 3rd time having actually taken home initially reward 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 finishing the line-up.