When Windsor staged what was billed as its last ever jumps meeting in December 1998, the final race on the card was the Norwegian Blue Handicap Hurdle – a clear sign that as far as the track was concerned, jumping was no more. It had ceased to be.

A generation later, though, it is suddenly showing distinct signs of life. There were just under 5,000 racegoers at Windsor last month for the first officially scheduled jumps meeting for 26 years, and the queues at the turnstiles on Friday – the first of two days as part of the first Berkshire Million festival, with the Clarence House Chase card at Ascot as the meat in the sandwich – suggested plenty of those fans had come back for more.

There was a total of £18,299 in win prize money on offer for the seven races in 1998. On Friday, the figure was £212,500 and the riches on offer attracted runners from most of Britain’s biggest stables, as well as the most expensive National Hunt horse ever sold at public auction in the handsome grey form of Paul Nicholls’s Caldwell Potter.

A six-strong syndicate that includes Sir Alex Ferguson, the former Manchester United manager, went to €740,000 (£625,000) to secure Caldwell Potter after his former owner quit the game in early 2024.

The seven-year-old was sent off at odds-on to recoup around £42,000 of his purchase price in the Grade Two Lightning Novice Chase, one of the feature events on the card, but having ranged alongside the front-running Gidleigh Park two out, his effort petered out and he crossed the line four lengths adrift.

Gidleigh Park was added to the betting for the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham at around 20-1, while Caldwell Potter, who was a 20-1 shot before he had jumped a fence in public, is out to 100-1, with Paul Nicholls, his trainer, conceding afterwards that he is a very talented horse but probably not the best of his year.

“No excuses,” Nicholls said. “Harry [Cobden, Caldwell Potter’s jockey] said to me, and I’ve said to the owners, that he’s a very nice horse but he’s not a champion. You’ve got to forget price tags, it’s irrelevant. He’s a nice horse, he’ll win a lot of nice races but we’ll just have to box clever and pick the right race on the right day.”

Getting jumps racing back to Windsor has involved more than just putting up a few obstacles on the racing surface.

“We’ve always been a summer track,” Mark Spincer, the managing director of Arena Racing Company’s racing division, said here on Friday, referring to the track’s hugely popular Flat meetings on Monday evenings. “Charlie Rees [the clerk of the course] and the team have had to think about the temperature and conditions, and make quite a few subtle changes to ensure the customer experience, with heating and lighting and so on.

“The [Million] meeting started at Lingfield [in 2022] but it was always on loan there and the intention was to get it here at Windsor, and put the Clarence House with it [on Saturday]. It helps that they’re one of our partners on the Sky Sports Racing platform, and we’ve been running a three-day pass, Windsor-Ascot-Windsor, for £40. We’ve worked together to get people here and we’ll hopefully see it go from strength to strength.”

Energumene can clinch Clarence clash

The first meeting between Jonbon and Energumene in the Clarence House Chase on Saturday is the most eagerly-anticipated contest of the jumps season so far and since both horses are happiest racing on or close to the pace, it promises to be a memorable duel around Ascot’s demanding two-mile chase course.

Jonbon was installed as the odds-on favourite after the five-day declarations on Monday, and remained top-priced at around 8-13 on Friday with Energumene available at around 2-1.

That feels like too big a gap between the principals in the market, as while Jonbon is both high-class and remarkably consistent, he has come up short when facing exceptional opponents – Constitution Hill and El Fabiolo – in novice events at Cheltenham in 2022 and 2023.

Energumene (3.32pm) also appears to be a cut above Jonbon’s recent opponents and having finished a length behind Shishkin in this race three years ago, Willie Mullins’s runner went on to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase two months later and then defend his two-mile title the following year.

He did all that could be expected when returning to action after a 593-day layoff at Cork, has a few pounds in hand of Jonbon on his Champion Chase form in 2023 and makes far more appeal than Nicky Henderson’s gelding at the likely prices on Saturday.

Lingfield 10.15am: Lingfield specialist Upepo’s first attempt at this trip was a non-event in a falsely-run race but he was back to form over 12 furlongs here last time and looks significantly over-priced at around 16-1 to register a fifth track success.

Ascot 1.40pm: Willie Mullins’s Kargese has form figures of 1221 in Grade One events on her last four starts and should have too much class for her six rivals in Grade Two company.

Haydock 1.55pm: Royal Infantry is one of the brightest two-mile novice prospects in a British yard and can underline his potential with a successful step up to Grade Two company.

Ascot 2.15pm: The consistent Flegmatik has finally started to edge down the weights, generally runs up to his best at this track and looks the value option at around 6-1 with Tristan Durrell taking off another 3lb.

Haydock 2.30pm: The ground has come right for the redoubtable Haydock specialist, Royale Pagaille, but even he may struggle to give nearly two stone to the London National winner, Mr Vango.

Ascot 2.50pm: A poor run when favourite last time is a concern, but Josh The Boss was a convincing winner at Chepstow in October and would be a big runner on that form if freshened up by a two-month break

Haydock 3.05pm: Tiny Tetley battled well to win at Taunton last time and can continue his progress off a 4lb higher mark.