Il Etait Temps confirmed himself a leading player in the two-mile chase division with an emphatic victory in Saturday's Betfair Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown.

The seven-year-old grey was the 8/11 favourite to repeat his success here in April and he did so in style, slamming his old rival Jonbon by nine lengths. It was a further nine lengths back to L'Eau De Sud in third.

Il Etait Temps was winning his sixth Grade 1 race here, and gave jockey Paul Townend his first win in the famous race. The pair travelled with supreme ease throughout and while the pace-setting Jonbon – a dual winner of this race – tried to go with him as he kicked for home on the turn, the Willie Mullins-trained runner was just too strong, coasting home nine lengths clear.

Townend said: “He is tiny, but he answered every question I asked of him today. I feel silly for not picking him so many times in his career now!

“He is living up to all the promise he showed as a young horse and went through the race really easily today. He is so relaxed now, and you can do what you want with him. In years gone past, you’d be afraid to ask him for a jump because you’d set him alight and you wouldn’t get him back.

“But he is so straightforward now and is so tough. He is measured and clean when he jumps, which is what you want from a horse of any size. He is great.”

Wayne Kieswetter, representing Barnane Stud who own Il Etait Temps in partnership with Hollywood Racing, said: “Paul said his jumping was magnificent – you ask him for a jump and he stands back. You can then switch him off after the jump, which I think is his secret weapon now. Paul is a top-class jockey.

“I’ll leave the future to the wizard (Willie Mullins). I just want to be here when he runs! Willie always has a plan.”

Kieswetter hails from South Africa and added: “We have no Jump racing in South Africa and to have his fellow and some of the others running from the stud, it has given it recognition.

“People come up and said we like following the horses and for people back home it has given them an interest in a different kind of racing.

“Jump racing started as a hobby for us but has become a passion.”

Nicky Henderson, trainer of runner-up Jonbon, said: “When the winner beat us here last year it was at the end of a long season, but today proves that over two miles he is a sharper horse than we are.

“You have to be tempted to look at going over further with him now. But let’s just see. Nothing is in and nothing is out.

“We put the cheekpieces on him today and were always going to lead. The horse loved it today – he jumped and galloped.

“He has come on from the Shloer at Cheltenham to do what he has done today – which probably would have been good enough to win the last two Tingle Creeks.

“There are no excuses with the ground. If you can’t go on the ground on the chase course here today, you can’t go on anything.”

Dan Skelton, trainer of third-placed L’Eau du Sud, said: “I don’t think we were at our best today, but I am very happy.

“We’ll have to get him super fresh, and he’ll go straight to the Champion Chase now – we’ll try and have him in the form he was in for the Shloer at Cheltenham.

“We kept him fresh for today and hoped we had him in the same form at Cheltenham. There were no negatives, but it just didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to.

“There are no excuses. We knew Jonbon was going to improve and Il Etait Temps was going to be difficult to beat.”

Bookmakers promoted the winner to 7/2 second favourite for the Champion Chase at Cheltenham. His stable companion Majborough (runs on Sunday in Cork) is the 3/1 favourite and reigning champion Marine Nationale is 4/1.