TAKE ALT FOR GLORY
ALTIOR towers head and shoulders above his rivals and should defend his unbeaten record over obstacles for a fourth consecutive Festival triumph.
Five times successful over hurdles, Nicky Henderson’s superstar is now 12 from 12 over fences, leaving him within one win of the 18-strong undefeated sequence completed by Big Buck’s in December 2012.
A seven-length margin in the 2016 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle was followed by a six-length supremacy in the following year’s Arkle.
Twelve months ago, A ltior briefly looked in trouble when jockey Nico de Boinville became animated on the run to the third-last fence, but surged away upon meeting the Min rising ground to beat by seven lengths.
That victory was gained on the back of a stop-start preparation after wind surgery ruled him out of the Tingle Creek at Sandown, but this season has gone to plan.
Making his reappearance in this season’s Tingle Creek, the nine-year-old son of High Chaparral had four lengths to spare over Un De Sceaux, humbled Diego Du Charmile by 19 lengths at Kempton over Christmas and limbered up for today with a sevenlength dismissal of Fox Norton in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot in January.
As the meeting’s shortest-priced favourite, Altior should deliver in style.
Min comes to Cheltenham on the back of two top-level scores this winter – at Punchestown and Leopardstown – and he again looks the best option to chase Altior home.
For the final place on the Sceau Royal, podium, who landed the Shloer Chase at Cheltenham in November, Politologue, is preferred to who has underperformed Saint Calvados recently, God’s Own. and