2025 Fact To File runner-up Heart Wood (9/2) won the Grade 1 Ryanair Chase on St Patrick’s Thursday at Cheltenham.
His task was made easier before the race with Fact To File withdrawing due to concerns about the terrain. With Gordon Elliott’s Croke Park also a non-runner, the field was reduced to seven for the two and a half mile contest.
JPR One (18/1), in the hands of Brendan Powell, set the pace for most of the race but eventually slipped back to fourth place.
Jonbon (2/1 favorite), owned by the same JP McManus property as the previously withdrawn Fact To File, looked set for another Grade 1 victory.
Darragh O’Keeffe and Heart Wood behind him looked comfortable, then O’Keeffe asked the Henry de Bromhead-prepared eight-year-old for his effort, Jonbon couldn’t answer.
The French-born son of Choeur du Nord jumped the last two obstacles with precision and took an easy winner by 10 lengths.
Jonbon maintained his career record of never finishing outside the top two on the racecourse by taking second place from Nico de Boinville.
Banbridge (3/1), trained by Joseph O’Brien, finished third, two lengths behind 10-year-old Jonbon, trained by Nicky Henderson.
It was the first winner of this year’s Cheltenham Festival for Waterford trainer Henry de Bromhead, who said:
“It was great, Darragh [O’Keeffe, winning jockey] was great with him. He jumped wonderfully, it’s just lovely to have him. Delighted. He ran a blinder last year and we probably rode him to place last year, whereas this year we said we were going to try. They galloped away, in my eyes. He just flew fences. Darragh was brilliant with him. It was just one of those dream races.
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