Jockey Ben Jones reports Mambonumberfive to be "bouncing out of his skin" ahead of his bid to maintain his unbeaten record over fences in the Bet Smarter With Oddschecker Kingmaker Novices’ Chase at Warwick.
The Ben Pauling-trained five-year-old, who has so far registered three victories from as many starts over fences this season, is one of six entries for Saturday's £75,000 Grade Two feature over two miles.
After bagging handicap wins at Aintree on his chasing debut, and at Newbury, the gelded son of Born To Sea took his form to new heights over fences on his last start with victory in the Grade Two Ladbrokes Wayward Lad Novices’ Chase at Kempton over Christmas (replay below).
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And although Mambonumberfive will be saddled with a penalty following that success Grade One-winning rider Jones believes the improving gelding will have no problems with the extra weight on ground around a track he expects to play to his strengths.
Jones said: “He has taken everything in his stride to be fair to him. We didn’t think we would be staying over two miles, but he has kept on winning. He is always a bit flat out at the start but he is always finishing strong, so it seems silly to change something that is working well.
“He won a graded race the last day and he did it nicely in the end. He is probably doing stuff that he shouldn’t be doing, but I think when the horse has a bit of class underneath them they always find a way to win under any circumstances.
“I saw him at the weekend and he is absolutely bouncing out of his skin. Warwick does test novice chasers, but everything we have thrown at him so far he has passed with flying colours. His jumping, in the main, has been flawless.
“This bit of rain we have had will help keep that moisture in the ground and it should be the first time he gets his proper ground as he hasn’t run on soft ground this season so I’m looking forward to that. Carrying the penalty will be no problem. It is not as if he is like 15.2 hands high, he is 17 hands-plus as he is absolutely gigantic.”
Although Mambonumberfive will enter the contest bidding to secure a second Grade Two over fences this season, Jones admits last time at Kempton Park it was a victory that while ultimately ending up looking impressive, he feared might not happen at one stage.
He added: “To be honest if it was a nought to one hundred race I would have pulled him up half-way around.
"He had just never been that fast in his life and it was the quickest ground that he had been on.
“For the first half-a-mile he was in his comfort zone and fine, but when they got racing down the back straight, he used his fences as speed bumps and just got over them.
“Up the home straight is when he hit top gear and he didn’t miss a beat. He has been a fantastic jumper all season so it was a bit strange the mistakes he made down the back straight, but that was only because of the speed he went on that ground.”
In recent seasons the two-mile test has been used as a stepping-stone towards the Singer Arkle Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, for which Mambonumberfive is a general 14/1 chance. And Jones feels the decision to head to Warwick and swerve and outing in last weekend’s Virgin Bet Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase over half a mile further at Sandown was the right call regarding his Festival preparation.
He added: “Even though two and a half miles on soft ground is what he is crying out for, his main target is the Arkle still so we didn’t think it would be fair to him to run in the Scilly Isles and then go back down in trip.
“He would have found everything a lot slower and easier in the Scilly Isles, but he would have then gone to Cheltenham and had his eyes wide open. The speed they will go around Cheltenham will be a lot different to what they would have gone around at Sandown Park.
“We just want to get him to Cheltenham in the best nick having had the best preparation and we think that going over two and a half miles on heavy ground wouldn’t have been the right move.”
Not only would victory for Mambonumberfive continue his own fine season, but it would also carry on the red-hot spell in the saddle currently being enjoyed by Jones.
The Welsh rider enjoyed a notable January following Grade Two wins on No Questions Asked in the Fitzdares Your Personal Bookmaker Lightning Novices’ Chase at Windsor, Ooh Betty in the BetMGM Warfield Mares’ Hurdle at Ascot and Ma Shantou in the Pertemps Network Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham.
And while he hopes that run can continue he believes much of it is down to the calibre of horses Naunton Downs handler Pauling has in his possession.
Jones said: “It is what everyone wants to be doing riding the big Saturday winners, but it just shows how good the person I’m riding for is and the calibre of horses that they have got.
“Mambonumberfive is one of them and he is only going to improve with time and he will be a better horse again next season and probably the season after again as he has got a tremendous attitude. I’m very fortunate to be in the position I’m in and hopefully we can keep it going on Saturday.”
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