Very nice performance from Jonbon - he really is the finished article now, settled beautifully again and jumped for fun. Energumene no match in the end and the years may well have caught up with him. I think he'll need it very testing in the Champion Chase to have a chance. I know it will all change come March but Willie Mullins just can't get a winner in the UK at the moment and he is stuck in 87th place in the trainers championship with just over £80K prize money - nearly £1.8 million behind Dan Skelton.
Was a good performance by Jonbon. Looks a much improved performer but maybe Energumene is past his best days. Good ride from the front, race was over after 100 yards once Energumene wasn't taking it up.
Given he's based in Ireland Oddy I wouldn't say it's that big of a surprise. How's he doing here this season? His priority is here. He's only taking the pee by winning over there, a feat that should be almost unattainable and not even something that should be questioned. See some British getting excited by his losses when the reality is a much more relaxed over here, not much notice is taken as it's not his home hunting ground.
In 2024 Willie won around 1.2 mill at Cheltenham in 1st prizes alone. Probably closer to 1.5 mill in total for the week. He’ll be back in the race by mid March and if he wins the GN again he’ll be sending raiding parties to Ayr and Sandown. The key to the trainers championship is the £500k GN 1st prize. I bet the spectre of the Mullins battalions still keeps fiddling Dan awake at night. Jonbon looked good today but…he beat 2 x 11 year old Grade 1 winners and a decent 10 year old handicapper. I’ll pass on the 5/4 for the Champion Chase thanks.
Of course he likely will be. I think a lot more of the furore around Willie Mullins and Ireland v Britain comes from the British media. It really isn't a thing over here as much. Yes. Perspective around that Jonbon win is needed but he did do it well and looks more polished this year.
Langer Dan will swing the title Skelton’s way I’m not convinced Jonbon is a Cheltenham horse - he has won a couple of Shloers but has come up short in the big races there. Having said that, he might be far enough ahead of the rest this year that it doesn’t matter.
He’s behind Elliott at the moment in the Irish trainers championship after a poor Christmas (good job he has Galopin). Maybe he chose the wrong races for Lossiemouth, Ballyburn, Kargese, Energumene? A few of his have not run to expectations in the last couple of months and I’m not convinced it’s the well-oiled machine this season. OK his win strike rate is much better than Elliott’s but he’s about €300K behind in the title race. I think it’s good for the sport that he isn’t sweeping all before him but as Chan says it will probably be service as normal come the spring.
He did hint at something not being right around Novemeber/December time. Never heard anything after that.
Just an update from Saturday... Had a great time, 4x winners, crazy day, had the first three winners on the day... Took on Royal Pag as i thought he has just had a tough campaign so far this season and picked out that winner with Mr Vango...!! Then to see, well listen in to, Liverpool snatching 3 points in the very last minutes, Villa getting a draw with the Arsenal, an excellent curry, chicken Jalfrezi with a few extra chillies, and then Washington Commanders go on to beat the Detroit Lions in the middle of the night to cap off a very good birthday... Thanks for the shout outs, until the next...
