Jonbon shines on yet another trying day for troubled home of jumps racing

Popular chaser victorious but ground issues, horses slipping and the low sun are all negatives for Cheltenham

One of the more remarkable career records in jumping was extended again on Friday as Jonbon, one of the most popular chasers in training, won the Shloer Chase for the third time in the last four seasons and maintained his lifetime streak of never having finished outside the first two in 29 starts under National Hunt rules.

On the opening day of Cheltenham’s second-biggest meeting, though, it also felt like a somewhat flat success, out of keeping with the setting and occasion. Jonbon was left with just two rivals to beat after Gidleigh Park, the second-favourite on Friday morning, was ruled out a couple of hours before the race due to concerns about the drying ground.

Nor was Harry Fry’s chaser the only absentee on the card – there were nine in all, including two big fancies for the Listed novice chase – and Cheltenham is facing the prospect of more non-runners in Saturday’s showpiece Paddy Power Gold Cup card.

What with the runners in the Grade Two Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle later on the card being forced to bypass several obstacles due to the low sun, and horses slipping on the bend into the straight, it was a day when it seemed every possible element – with the sole exception of the Microsoft outage – was conspiring to disrupt the proceedings.

The official going description of good, good-to-soft in places at the start of racing on Friday was changed to good later in the afternoon ahead of Saturday’s card, which is due to include both a much-anticipated early match-up between Old Park Star and Kabral Du Mathan, the top two in the betting for the Arkle Trophy next March, and the Paddy Power Gold Cup, one of the main events in the first half of the season. Both Kabral Du Mathan and Old Park Star are understood to be doubtful runners as a result.

At the spring festival on the other side of Christmas, Jon Pullin, Cheltenham’s clerk of the course, would almost certainly be able to turn on the taps overnight and put on enough water to maintain the current going, at least.

With the track having been hit by an unexpected overnight frost before Friday’s card, however, it is not an option, as a repeat of Thursday’s overnight temperatures would likely leave the course frozen.

Friday’s going was at least ideal for Jonbon, whose career-long 29-race streak of finishing either first or second remains intact.

It is a remarkable record, for all that – famously or notoriously, depending on whether you backed him – Jonbon has been the runner-up in all four of his starts at Cheltenham’s festival meeting in March.

There was also little sign of advancing years catching up with him this time, as Jonbon, who will be 11 when next year’s festival rolls around, made all the running and jumped with accuracy and enthusiasm on the way to a two-and-a-quarter length success at odds of 1-2.

There is a fair case to be made for a dozen of the 15 runners in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Saturday, but second-season chaser Blueking D’Oroux (2.20) has the prominent racing style that tends to prevail over this track and trip and that could tip the balance in his favour.

The seven-year-old was a dual Grade Two winner over hurdles for his former trainer, Paul Nicholls, and finished second in a Grade One novice at Aintree at the end of his novice chase campaign.

Blueking D’Oroux switched to Dan Skelton’s championship-winning stable in the summer with just five runs over fences in the book, and starts the new campaign on a mark that offers plenty of scope for further progress.

Cheltenham 1.10 Joseph O’Brien’s Atomic City posted a decent time under a hands-and-heels ride when making a successful debut over hurdles at Cork last month and will be a tough opponent for the likely favourite, Charles Darnay.

Windsor 1.25 Kildinian Prince is one of the least exposed runners in the field and makes his handicap debut off a potentially lenient mark, not least with the step up to three miles likely to see further improvement.

Cheltenham 1.45 Cheltenham 1.45 The much-anticipated meeting between Kabral Du Mathan and Old Park Star has been frustrated with Dan Skelton’s runner taken out on Friday evening, while Old Park Star, last year’s Supreme Novice Hurdle winner, is also doubtful. That leaves Henry de Bromhead’s Workahead as the likely beneficiary if the race cuts up as expected.

Cheltenham 2.55 With just five runs over timber at eight years of age, Horaces Pearl has clearly not been easy to train but he goes well fresh and is fairly weighted on his limited form to date.

Windsor 3.10 Misterdoc did not enjoy the run of the race when second on his handicap debut at Newton Abbot in October and did well to finish just one-and-a-quarter lengths behind the winner.

Cheltenham 3.30 The progressive Daylatedollarshort picked up where he left off at Chepstow in October and can continue his steady improvement off an 8lb higher mark.