Whether it is age that wearies or mileage on the clock could prove important to the outcome of an eagerly anticipated Anglo-Irish clash in Saturday’s Grade One feature at Ascot.
Willie Mullins’s Energumene lost out to Shishkin in a notable BetMGM Clarence House Chase head-to-head back in 2022.
All of three years later and he is back for the race again facing the prospect of taking on a former stable companion of his ill-fated old rival in Jonbon.
The human personnel involved are the same with Willie Mullins and Paul Townend aiming to get their own back on the Nicky Henderson-Nico De Boinville team.
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In a mouthwatering prospect, it is Jonbon who’s the new kid on the block and he’s widely expected to start an odds-on favourite.
Part of that is due to how he’s nine and so theoretically at least pretty much at the optimum age for a top-flight steeplechaser. His is the only age among the four runners in single digits.
His progressive career profile, in which he’s been beaten just three times in 19 starts, is an admirable contrast to the what-might-have-been circumstances surrounding his brother, Douvan.
That horse, once acclaimed by Mullins as the best through his hands, mixed brilliance with frailty that ultimately meant his career fizzled out.
It ultimately took Energumene to finally deliver Mullins an elusive first Queen Mother Champion Chase success. He bounced back from that famous Clarence House defeat to win at Cheltenham and made it back-to-back victories in the two-mile crown a year later.
Injury prevented the chance to emulate Badsworth Boy as a triple champion and he was out of action for all of 593 days until returning with a bang at Cork last month.
The value of that performance, where Banbridge blundered away his chance at the last, took on a very different slant with the latter’s subsequent King George victory.
Nevertheless, there is a widespread view that at 11 Energumene is inevitably a fading talent vulnerable to being put in his place by an opponent at his prime.
But there was no evidence of a lack of verve in that Hilly Way performance and despite his double-digit age, he is the most inexperienced horse in the field.
A total of 16 starts is three fewer than Jonbon and a whole lot less than the contest’s other Grade One winner Edwardstone, who’s about to have his 34th race.
Even Nicky Henderson has referred to the Irish star as “good old Energumene” in the build-up to what so many hope might be a repeat of 2022′s rousing duel.
That Clarence House was exceptional in having not only lived up to expectations but exceeded them. The odds on a repeat though must surely be more than those attached to the fourth runner, Boothill.
Even so, there will be intense interest in the outcome, particularly since Henderson so comprehensively got the better of Mullins at Kempton over Christmas.
Constitution Hill’s defeat of Lossiemouth has put a pep back into cross-channel steps on the countdown to Cheltenham and it was backed up a day later by Sir Gino trouncing Ballyburn.
Earlier on the Ascot card, Townend teams up with Kargese in a Grade Two Mares’ Hurdle where she will be short odds to enhance her own Cheltenham claims.
The dual Grade One winner had to settle for runner-up spots at Cheltenham and Aintree last season mostly due to her failure to settle. She will again sport a hood to try to calm those competitive instincts. As the youngest in the race though, any ceiling on her potential looks very high indeed.
“Travelling for her first run of the season isn’t ideal, as Willie always says, but she’s strengthened up massively and is ready to go,” Townend said.
Ascot stages the middle leg of the Berkshire winter Million series which culminates in Sunday’s Windsor action.
The featured Fitzdares Fleur De Lys Chase is worth just shy of €200,000, a pot that has encouraged Henry de Bromhead to send Journey With Me to Windsor.
Darragh O’Keeffe maintains the partnership having ridden the smart 160-rated horse on his last three starts, including when the Grade Two winner ran sixth behind Fact To File in the John Durkan.
The Ryanair winner Protektorat is joined by Pic D’orhy and Djelo in a strong home team that also includes the ex-Mullins charge, Indiana Dream.
Rachael Blackmore teams up with De Bromhead’s other Windsor runner, Arctic Bresil, who carries bottom weight in an earlier handicap chase.
In other news, Haydock will have to pass an 8.30 morning inspection to see if Saturday’s Peter Marsh Chase card can go ahead.
The track was raceable on Friday but overnight temperatures are expected to dip below freezing. Temperatures of just five degrees are anticipated by Saturday afternoon. Frost covers have been applied to the track.
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