A tilt at King George looms large for Djelo after he produced a dominant front-running display to defend the Sky Bet Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon.
The Venetia Williams-trained seven-year-old was an easy winner of the two-and-a-half-mile Grade Two 12 months ago and, after getting his campaign off to a fine start by winning the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby, was a 5-6 favorite to make it back-to-back wins in Huntingdon’s feature race in the hands of Charlie Deutsch.
While his task was undoubtedly made easier by the fact that Willie Mullins’ Irish raider Saint Sam proved bitterly disappointing, his jump falling apart before he was eventually pulled up by Harry Cobden, Djelo was accurate on his hurdles throughout in the lead and was not hard pressed to score by four and three-quarter lengths from Alan King’s admirable Edwardstone.
Bookmakers give Djelo an 8-1 shot from 12-1 for the King George VI Chase and Kempton’s Boxing Day showpiece is now firmly on the agenda.
Williams said: “Charlie said after the run-in the last thing on his mind was King George and holding a bit in the tank. It’s something to look forward to now and he deserves to take his chance in the race.
“It’s the obvious thing to do now and there aren’t many other races you’d consider in that period.
“He was the youngest horse in the race here and he still has plenty of time and hopefully a long career ahead of him.”
Djelo became the first horse since Henrietta Knight’s Racing Demon in 2006 and 2007 to go back-to-back in the Peterborough Chase, but despite being sent off odds with the teams, Williams admitted some trepidation given the current form of her string.
“I’m really excited and I won’t deny that this was one of my more nerve-wracking days at the races because obviously not all my horses have shot as well as you would have liked,” added the Herefordshire trainer.
“I won’t deny, I didn’t come here quite as confident as I should have been in light of what I’ve just seen. It’s hard to compare this to last year’s performance, but it was just as good.
“The assumption was that Saint Sam would be fine, but really Charlie only allowed it to a certain point and he obviously didn’t go fast enough. Charlie had to make sure it was the right test for Djelo and did that.
“I said after Wetherby, with good horses like him, they don’t have limited distances and as long as they are fast enough for shorter but can stay longer, you can mix and match accordingly – versatility is a good thing.”
King, meanwhile, was over the moon with the performance of runner-up Edwardstone, saying: “I don’t think we’re going to retire him after that and that’s great.
“We’re not coming back on the ride and I might even go up even more, but I’ll wait and see what Tom (Cannon, jockey) says and think.
“I’m just happy and relieved that he’s come back in one piece.”