King Under No Illusions As Edwardstone Faces Old Foe Jonbon

Alan King is delighted to continue Edwardstone's journey when he locks horns with old foe Jonbon as soon as again on Saturday as both included among the six statements for the Betfair Ascot Chase.


The duo have frequently taken on over two miles through their professions, but now do battle over a new distance, with Edwardstone getting here off the back of a heartfelt success in the Silviniaco at Kempton last month.


King said: "The old young boy appears in good form. I would have preferred somewhat better ground, but 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 nearly as great as it has actually constantly been, it was lovely to see him get his head in front again. It offered myself and the entire group a huge quantity of satisfaction.


"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 illusions about taking on the two big guns so we'll see how we get on."


Jonbon has actually won 2 Melling Chases over an intermediate journey and requiring every yard 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 venue where he has an impressive record.


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


Edwardstone are Jonbon 12 and 10 respectively and they are joined in the line-up by another elder statesman, with Paul Nicholls' 11-year-old Pic D'orhy bidding to win the race for a record third time having taken home initially reward 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.