Jonbon and Pic D’Orhy Deliver One of the Races of the Season in the Betfair Ascot Chase

The early stages of this renewal were precisely as expected. Harry Cobden sent Pic D’Orhy straight to the front, targeting the inside rail, exactly the tactics that had delivered the race to the Paul Nicholls-trained 11-year-old in both 2024 and 2025. Jonbon kept company towards his outside, with a break of a couple of lengths back to Blow Your Wad, Edwardstone, and Classic Maestro. Heltenham immediately found himself outpaced and was visibly struggling to match the tempo.

Jonbon, wearing earplugs to the start per the race record on Sporting Life, was not entirely foot-perfect in the early going. He was noted jumping out to his left at a couple of fences, a quirk that Nico de Boinville managed without alarm. Pic D’Orhy continued to set even fractions, a rhythm that ultimately generated a race with a finishing speed of 101%, according to Total Performance Data.

The Crux: Three Fences Out

Turning for home, Pic D’Orhy moved a length clear. Jonbon hit a flat spot and de Boinville became more animated in the saddle. For a moment, a Pic D’Orhy hat-trick appeared to be on the cards. Cobden asked for more approaching the second-last, but Jonbon was not finished.

The turning point came when de Boinville galvanised the JP McManus-owned grey. He quickly moved back onto the girths of the leader and both horses arrived at the final fence in close company. Jonbon jumped it fractionally ahead, albeit not fluently, landing a little flat, but his raw tenacity and proven Ascot form kicked in. He forged clear up the run-in to win by one and a half lengths, with Blow Your Wad plugging on at a distance for third.

Key Observations on Replay

– **Jonbon’s jumping:** His fence-by-fence accuracy was not as clean as his best, with the race record noting he was “not fluent 3 out” and “not fluent” at the last. Yet this is arguably where the performance gains its greatest merit, he won despite not producing his sharpest jumping display.
– **Pic D’Orhy’s tactics:** Cobden’s bold front-running was set up to test Jonbon’s stamina at 2m 5f for the first time, and it very nearly worked. The defending champion’s fluency was notably better than his November run at Sandown. Total Performance Data recorded he lost only 9.2% of his speed over his fences, compared to 10.2% at Sandown and 13.3% in the latter stages of that race.
– **Finishing speed:** Total Performance Data confirmed Jonbon was the fastest horse in six of the final seven-furlong splits, with a top speed of 33.14 mph in the closing stages.
– **Stamina validation:** The step up to 2m 5f had been the one outstanding question mark over Jonbon’s profile. He answered it emphatically.

Trainer and Jockey Reaction

De Boinville said immediately after dismounting: “It was very special and I think it lived up to everything it was billed to be. What a fantastic horse. Robin [Land, groom] has looked after some very good horses, but I think this takes the lot. I trusted that he was going to keep staying and we met the last all wrong, but he’s very nippy with his feet and he just keeps finding.”

Nicky Henderson reflected: “It was a proper race and two older horses putting up one of the races of the season. They jumped and they fought and they traded and it was in the balance all the way. Races like that don’t come up like that very often.”

Historical Context

The win was Jonbon’s 12th Grade 1 success, placing him level with the great Kauto Star in the modern era for top-level wins over fences. Henderson, meanwhile, moved to within one of Paul Nicholls at the top of the all-time trainers’ table for Ascot Chase victories, taking his tally to five.

For Pic D’Orhy, who finished second with his brave run in defeat, the result took the 11-year-old past the,1 million prize-money mark in his career, a milestone his trainer Paul Nicholls noted places him among the likes of Kauto Star, Master Minded, and Neptune Collonges.

Nicholls confirmed the next port of call for the runner-up would be Aintree rather than Cheltenham, with options at both two and a half and three miles available at the Grand National meeting.