Jonbon wins Shloer Chase as Cheltenham day disrupted by withdrawals, low sun and tricky ground
Jonbon won the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham on Friday, taking the race for the third time in the last four seasons and extending his record of never having finished outside the first two in 29 starts under National Hunt rules on the opening day of the course’s second-biggest meeting.
The card was affected by a series of problems: nine declared absentees in total, the late withdrawal of second-favourite Gidleigh Park a couple of hours before the Shloer over concerns about drying ground, horses slipping on the bend into the straight and runners in the Grade Two Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle forced to bypass several obstacles because of the low sun; the official going description began as good, good-to-soft in places and was changed to good later in the afternoon. Jon Pullin, Cheltenham’s clerk of the course, would almost certainly be able to turn on the taps overnight and put on enough water to maintain the current going at the spring festival, the report noted, but an unexpected overnight frost before Friday’s card made that impossible for this meeting.
Friday’s conditions suited Jonbon, who made all the running, jumped with accuracy and enthusiasm and won by two-and-a-quarter lengths at odds of 1-2. The victory preserved his career-long sequence of finishing first or second in 29 National Hunt starts and continued the pattern of near-misses at the Cheltenham festival, where he has been runner-up in all four of his starts in March; he will be 11 when next year’s festival arrives.
The weekend card was already in doubt: Saturday’s programme was due to feature an early match-up between Old Park Star and Kabral Du Mathan — the top two in the betting for the Arkle Trophy next March — and the Paddy Power Gold Cup, one of the main events in the first half of the season, but both Kabral Du Mathan and Old Park Star were understood to be doubtful runners, and Dan Skelton’s runner had been taken out on Friday evening. Cheltenham is facing the prospect of more non-runners in Saturday’s Paddy Power Gold Cup card.
Among the race previews and pointers published, Blueking D’Oroux (2.20) was highlighted as a prominent-going second-season chaser who could suit the track; the seven-year-old was a dual Grade Two winner over hurdles for Paul Nicholls, finished second in a Grade One novice at Aintree at the end of his novice chase campaign, switched to Dan Skelton’s stable in the summer with five runs over fences and starts the new campaign on a mark described as offering plenty of scope for further progress.
Other individual previews included Joseph O’Brien’s Atomic City at Cheltenham 1.10, who “posted a decent time under a hands-and-heels ride when making a successful debut over hurdles at Cork last month” and was named as a contender for the likely favourite Charles Darnay; Windsor 1.25’s Kildinian Prince was noted as one of the least exposed in that field making his handicap debut off a potentially lenient mark with a step up to three miles expected to prompt improvement; and Henry de Bromhead’s Workahead was singled out as the likely beneficiary at Cheltenham 1.45 if the race “cuts up as expected” after the late withdrawals.
Horaces Pearl at Cheltenham 2.55 was described as an eight-year-old with just five runs over timber, difficult to train but effective fresh and “fairly weighted on his limited form to date.” At Windsor, Misterdoc was noted as having “not enjoy[ed] the run of the race when second on his handicap debut at Newton Abbot in October” yet finishing only one-and-a-quarter lengths behind the winner. Cheltenham tips listed Little Ledgend (12.35), Atomic City (1.10), Workahead (1.45), Blueking D’Oroux (2.20, nap), Horaces Pearl (2.55), Daylatedollarshort (3.30, nb) and Soleretta (4.00).
Saturday’s programme still features the anticipated Old Park Star v Kabral Du Mathan match-up and the Paddy Power Gold Cup on the card, but the organisers and connections face continued uncertainty with both Arkle market leaders understood to be doubtful and a wider prospect of further non-runners affecting the big-day line-up.