Jonbon has Henderson in celebration mode at Sandown

Crack novice gets the better of established two-mile stars.

Jonbon proved a point for Nicky Henderson, taking on and beating senior rivals over two miles in the bet365 Celebration Chase at Sandown.

Sent off the 8-13 favourite for the Grade One feature, Aidan Coleman’s mount, who was runner-up in the Arkle Challenge Trophy to El Fabiolo, had bounced back to score at Aintree on his previous start.

It was something of a surprise Henderson decided to run him again, given his busy back-end to the season, and in open company.

It was not all plain sailing for the brother of Douvan, however. Having led early against his four rivals, he made two jumping errors and was briefly shuffled back to last.

Coleman gave him plenty of time to get his act together and he was soon on the bridle again, and was back in contention by the Pond Fence, where Captain Guinness and Rachael Blackmore had asserted.

Beating off Greaneteen, who had won this race for the past two years, the pair had it to themselves over the last two fences, but Jonbon’s stamina kicked in, and a superb jump at the last sealed the deal for the three-and-three-quarter-length winner.

Jonbon was cut to 4-1 from 6-1 with Coral for next season’s Ryanair Chase and 6-1 (from 10s) for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

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