Clarence House Chase: Energumene team 'will not hide' from Jonbon clash at Ascot as former champ continues comeback

Connections of Energumene "will not hide" from an all-star clash with Jonbon at Ascot later this month, with the BetMGM Clarence House Chase likely to be next for the dual Champion Chase hero.

Having taken advantage of a misfiring Shishkin when romping to his first Champion Chase in 2022, Willie Mullins' only winner of the Cheltenham Festival's day-two feature returned in peak condition to defend his crown a year later, demolishing the opposition, with the reigning champion chaser Captain Guinness 10 lengths adrift in second.

Injury denied him the chance to become just the second horse to win three Champion Chases, as he spent the whole of the 2023-24 campaign on the sidelines. But he made a thrilling return from 593 days off when reappearing in his traditional starting point, Cork's Hilly Way Chase, where it looked like he had got the better of subsequent King George hero Banbridge when he unseated at the last.

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Energumene has previously followed a pre-Christmas outing at Cork with a Cheltenham tune-up in the Clarence House and usual service is set to be resumed 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 duo separated by just a length following a battle for supremacy up the Ascot straight.

The 11-year-old now appears set to meet another standout performer from Nicky Henderson's Seven Barrows string, 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 up the challenge, providing conditions are suitable.

"I spoke to Willie just before the Christmas period and he said he was fine and came out of the Hilly Way in great form," said Sean Graham, Bloom's racing manager.

"Banbridge has gone and franked that form a bit by winning a King George, but Willie has also pointed out Dinoblue (10 lengths second) didn't run so well after that - so you could say one line of form says it's been franked and another says it hasn't.

"He's in great form and we just hope the ground turns up soft at Ascot, as the softer the better for him.

"We certainly will not hide from the race and if conditions are right and the ground is soft and not too quick, then that is the race we are aiming for. I haven't heard anything different since speaking to Willie, so I assume it is the same."

Despite the Clarence House potentially seeing two of the Champion Chase's leading players going toe-to-toe, there will be half an eye looking ahead to March, with the main objective for Energumene being to arrive at the Cheltenham Festival with a clean bill of health.

At Prestbury Park he will have the opportunity to replicate the exploits of Badsworth Boy, who is the only horse to win the Champion Chase on three occasions, and finds himself a general 5-1 with the layers following his Cork return.

Only Jonbon and stablemate Gaelic Warrior are ahead of him in the betting for the the two-mile championship and connections are holding out hope for their preferred underfoot conditions ahead of his long-awaited hat-trick bid in the Cotswolds.

"Before he ran in the Hilly Way he was 12-1 to win the Champion Chase and now he is around 5-1," continued Graham.

"He's going to be 11 come 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 are the last two 11-year-olds to win the race and it is a big ask, but if the ground comes up soft on the Wednesday at Cheltenham, and I mean proper soft ground, then I wouldn't swap him for anything.

"Badsworth Boy is the only horse to win three Champion Chases and when you look at all the great horses who have contested that race over the years and all the superstars, if Energumene was to go and win in March then he would be the first for a long time to win three of them.

"That shows how much of a big ask it is, but we are looking to get him there in one piece and have a good crack at it anyway."