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The Clarence House Chase has been frozen out of its traditional Ascot home in the two seasons since Shishkin and Energumene fought out a memorable battle on the run-in in 2022, but this year a thaw seems to have arrived just in time and the stage is set for another compelling duel in the Grade One contest on Saturday after Jonbon and Energumene, the top-rated two-milers in Britain and Ireland respectively, both appeared among Monday’s five-day entries.
Big-race head-to-heads do not always deliver on their build-up. Shishkin versus Energumene, though, was an instant classic, as Shishkin dug deep to claw back a one-length deficit jumping the last and edge in front a few strides from the line.
It would be greedy to expect a similar drama on Saturday – but at the same time, the parallels between 2022 and 2025 are difficult to ignore. Energumene, of course, is common to both, but Willie Mullins’s 11-year-old is also up against a prolific Grade One winner from the Nicky Henderson stable, while the top two in the betting are also separated by just 1lb on official ratings.
Jonbon, in fact, is currently the top-rated British-trained chaser at any distance, which is in part a sign of the dearth of top-class talent at staying trips but also a reflection of the nine-year-old’s class and astonishing consistency over four-and-a-half seasons on the track.
Following his win in the Grade One Tingle Creek at Sandown in December, Jonbon has now raced 19 times, winning 16 and finishing second in the other three. It is a remarkable record by any measure and yet, thus far at least, Jonbon does not quite seem to have captured the public imagination in the manner of previous top-class two-milers from the Henderson yard like Altior, Sprinter Sacre and Shishkin.
There are several possible reasons why, including Jonbon’s misfortune in sharing a novice season over hurdles with his stable companion, Constitution Hill, who hogged all the attention in the 21-22 and 22-23 seasons and became the only horse to beat Jonbon over timber in the Supreme Novice Hurdle in 2022. And Jonbon was beaten at the 2023 Festival too, finishing second to El Fabiolo in the Arkle Trophy Novice Chase.
It has, in fact, been somewhat unfortunate for Jonbon in terms of his public appreciation that the sprinkling of defeats on his career record have occurred in every fifth race, which has prevented him running up a long winning sequence in the manner of his illustrious predecessors.
Altior won his first 19 starts over jumps, Sprinter Sacre landed his first 10 over fences and Shishkin extended his win streak to 10 against Energumene three years ago. Jonbon, though, has yet to win more than four races in a row, despite having a better strike-rate than all three over the course of their careers.
Henderson recalled the 2022 Clarence House as “one of the great races of all time” after the entries were published on Monday. “It was billed as that and it lived up to that, which was terrific,” he added. “Well, it was terrific for us. I don’t think Willie enjoyed it as much as we did. It was going their way and then it came back to go our way at the end.
“Energumene was impressive on his comeback run a few weeks ago, so it looks as if we’re going to have a re-do, but it will be Jonbon who’s going to have to do battle with him.”
Saturday’s race offers Jonbon another chance to break out of the WWWWL pattern that has run through his career to date like a watermark, and Ladbrokes installed him as their 8-11 favourite in the early betting on Monday, with Energumene at 15-8 and Edwardstone – a three-time Grade one winner over fences – on 9-1.
Energumene, though, looked rusty but still as talented as ever on his return from a 593-day injury layoff at Cork in early December, and will attract plenty of support as he attempts to get a Clarence House Chase win on his record at the third attempt.
“The interesting thing is that Jonbon’s very happy up there [setting the pace, so] they could be going a right good gallop,” Henderson said on Monday. “This could be brewing up for another historic renewal.”
