Just 48 hours after Cheeky Wink’s smart win at Tipperary, the Kieswetter and Heffer families enjoyed another champagne moment when their lionhearted grey Il Etait Temps bounced back from almost a year off the track to register his fifth Gr1 success when beating the highly vaunted Jonbon in the bet365 Celebration Chase at Sandown on Saturday.
The seven year old, who races in a partnership of Hollywood Racing and Barnane Stud, breezed to victory under Danny Mullins after pinging every fence, and appearing to be on the bridle at the Pond Fence.
Danny Mullins keeps Il Etait Temps beautifully balanced (Pic – Supplied)
The form was in the book! When he was last seen he beat Gaelic Warrior at the Punchestown Festival having also won at Aintree, but the fact he had missed the whole of the season saw him go off a 9-2 chance on Saturday.
The 9yo Jonbon, a horse labelled a ‘superstar’, had shifted marginally right at some of his fences but in the main jumped well, and really had no excuses as Il Etait Temps breezed by on his way to a five-and-a-half-length win to hand Jonbon his first defeat away from the Cheltenham Festival. The winner’s stablemate Energumene was third.
Willie Mullins told RacingTV: “I didn’t expect that and I was hoping both him and Energumene would finish, pick up some place money and both be sound. But to do what he did, I couldn’t believe it there in the stands and that has to be one of the moments of the whole year I think, for him to come out and do what he did.He looks top class and that’s his fifth Grade One I think. He’s not a big, chasing type and to put him against Jonbon it looked like father and son, but he can jump and he’s athletic and stays and he does everything.”
Lionheart! Il Etait Temps takes it in his stride (Pic – Supplied)
On the near season-long absence, Mullins added: “He had a little knee problem and was supposed to be back at Christmas and then Easter and every time we got close it went wrong. We said we’d put him by for Punchestown but then we needed him for today and thank god we did, but he has been working very well at home.”
Labelled a ‘horse made of iron’ by his trainer, Il Etait Temps has been a model of consistency
“He’s a fine horse, he’s not your big, 16.3 (hands) chaser, but he turns up for every fight and is made of iron. He turns up and there’s never an issue with him,” Mullins said earlier.
A gelded son of Jukebox Jury, Il Etait Temps is out of Une Des Source and was bred in France by Emmanuel Clayeux.
