Clarence House Chase: Team Energumena ‘won’t hide’ from Jonbon clash at Ascot as former champion continues comeback | Racing news
Energumene’s connections “will not hide” from the all-star clash with Jonbon at Ascot later this month, with the BetMGM Clarence House Chase likely to be next for the two-time Champion Chase hero.
After taking advantage of Shishkin’s unfired start in his first Champion Chase in 2022, Willie Mullins’ only winner on day two of the Cheltenham Festival returned in top form to defend his crown a year later, destroying the opposition, with the reigning champion chaser Captain Guinness 10 lengths per second.
The injury denied him the opportunity to become only the second horse to win three champion chases, as he spent the entire 2023-24 campaign. spent on the margins. But he made a thrilling comeback after 593 days off when he reappeared at his traditional starting point, Cork’s Hilly Way Chase, where he looked like getting the better of King George Banbridge’s next hero when he took the place last.
Energumene was previously accompanied by a pre-Christmas trip to Cork with Cheltenham at Clarence House, and normal service is due to resume on January 18.
Owned by Brighton & Hove Albion supremo Tony Bloom, few can forget Energumene’s titanic showdown with the aforementioned Shishkin in the Grade One event three years ago, with the pair only separated by a length after a battle for supremacy along the Ascot Plain.
The 11-year-old now looks set to meet another outstanding performer from Nicky Henderson’s line Seven Barrows, with the race nominated as Jonbon’s next port of call en route to the Champion Chase – and the Energumene team are keen to take on the challenge, the conditions are right.
“I spoke to Willie just before Christmas and he said he was fine and came out of Hilly Way in great shape,” said Sean Graham, Bloom’s racing manager.
“Banbridge went and franked that form a bit by winning the King George, but Willie also pointed out that Dinoblue (10 lengths a second) wasn’t so good after that – so you could say one line of the form says it was franked and the other says that it is not.
“He’s in great form and we’re just hoping the ground at Ascot is softer because the softer the better for him.
“We’re certainly not going to hide from the race and if the conditions are right and the surface is soft and not too fast, then that’s the race we’re aiming for. I haven’t heard anything different from talking to Willie, so I’m assuming it’s the same.”
Despite Clarence House potentially seeing two Champion Chase frontrunners go head-to-head, half an eye will be looking ahead to March, with Energumene’s main aim being to arrive at the Cheltenham Festival with a clean bill of health.
At Prestbury Park, he will have the chance to repeat the exploits of Badsworth Boy, who is the only horse to win the Champion Chase three times, and is 5-1 overall with layers following his return to Cork.
Only Jonbon and fellow Gaelic Warrior are ahead of him in the betting for the two-mile championship, with connections holding out hope for their preferred underfoot conditions ahead of his long-awaited Cotswolds hat-trick bid.
“Before he ran at Hilly Way he was 12-1 to win the Champion Chase and now he’s about 5-1,” Graham continued.
“He’ll be 11 in March and the last 11-year-old to win the Champion Chase was Moscow Flyer, and before that you have to go back to Skymas in the 1970s.
“They’re the last two 11-year-olds to win a race and that’s a big ask, but if the ground is soft on Wednesday at Cheltenham, and I mean really soft, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“Badsworth Boy is the only horse to win three Champion Chases and when you look at all the great horses that have competed in that race over the years and all the superstars, if Energumene were to go and win in March he would be the first in a long time to win three of them.
“It shows what a big ask it is, but we want to get it there in one piece and give it a good shot anyway.”
