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 opponent Jonbon once again on Saturday as both featured among the six statements for the Betfair Ascot Chase.


The duo have actually regularly dealt with off over two miles through their careers, and now do battle over a brand-new range, with Edwardstone getting here off the back of a heartwarming success in the Chase at Kempton last month.


King said: "The old kid seems in great form. I would have preferred a little much 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 interest and work at home is nearly as good as it has always been, it was lovely to see him get his head in front once again. It gave myself and the entire team a huge amount of pleasure.


"There is a great deal 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 journey and having actually needed every lawn of the minimum distance when notching back-to-back Clarence House Chase victories at this track last time out, is reunited with Nico de Boinville at a venue 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 taken part the line-up by another senior statesman, with Paul Nicholls' 11-year-old Pic D'orhy bidding to win the race for a record third time having actually taken home first 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 launching for Gary and Josh Moore finishing the line-up.