“The good ones find a way,” Dan Skelton said after winning the Henry VIII Novice Chase with L’Eau Du Sud, and on a demanding afternoon with the last gusts of Storm Darragh whipping across the track, it might also have applied to Nicky Henderson’s Jonbon, who overcame a sketchy jump at the second to join the elite list of two-milers with two wins in the Grade One Tingle Creek Chase to their name.
It was the only significant moment of concern for Jonbon’s supporters, who sent him off at 8-13, and the favourite was much more polished over the remaining obstacles, including a foot-perfect trio of jumps at the Railway fences at the end of the back straight. Nico de Boinville’s mount then surged into a clear lead between the final two and had eight lengths to spare over Quilixios, a former winner of the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham’s festival meeting, at the line.
