King Under No Illusions As Edwardstone Faces Old Foe Jonbon

Alan King is thrilled to continue Edwardstone's journey when he locks horns with old enemy Jonbon once again on Saturday as both featured amongst the six declarations for the Betfair Ascot Chase.


The duo have actually with off over two miles through their careers, today do fight over a brand-new range, with Edwardstone arriving off the back of a heartwarming success in the Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton last month.


King stated: "The old boy seems in excellent type. I would have chosen slightly better ground, however it is the way 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 almost as excellent as it has actually constantly been, it was beautiful to see him get his head in front again. It provided myself and the entire team a huge amount of satisfaction.


"There is a great deal of prize-money up for grabs and we'll see if we can get a piece. We're under no illusions about taking on the 2 huge guns so we'll see how we get on."


Jonbon has won 2 Melling Chases over an intermediate journey and having actually needed every backyard 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 place where he has an impeccable record.


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


Edwardstone are Jonbon 12 and 10 respectively and they are participated in 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 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 debut for Gary and Josh Moore finishing the line-up.