SP ALTIOR
Now bring on Douvan
NEVER has the saying that ‘the fences are there to be jumped’ been more appropriate when Altior was presented with the Arkle Chase after Charbel’s departure at the second-last fence.
Sent off the 1-4 favourite, Altior sent out the right messages for his supporters when skipping over his fences like a gazelle in the hands of Nico De Boinville.
But approaching the second-last fence, De Boinville did not have the double-handful that his supporters had expected.
Upsides Altior was Charbel and and David Bass, appearing to have a bit more in the tank, but no sooner had the pair looked like they were going to make Altior fight all the way to the line, he knuckled on landing.
This left Cloudy Dream to take second place with Ordinary World back in third.
“I feel sorry for Kim’s horse (Charbel) and hope he’s OK as he’s run a great race,” said winning trainer Nicky Henderson.”
“He was upsides at the time. That’s taken a lot of pressure off us. Altior jumped well and on we go.
“Life’s only beginning for him in his first season over fences.”
Henderson has resisted returning Altior to hurdles for the Champion Hurdle and an early date in the Champion Chase, but is clearly looking forward to meeting Douvan in next season’s Champion Chase.
“Hopefully, we will meet up with Douvan next year and also with Charbel.
“Altior is lovely, a hugely talented horse. He’s been pretty perfect all year. Again his jumping was accurate. He’s got such scope, and, at times, it was getting exuberant. “You have to be careful round here doing that. But he was great.
“I felt we would have beaten Charbel as he led us over the last fence when we beat him at Sandown back in December. “Kim’s horse was running a great race. But Altior has done nothing wrong.” But Bailey is adamant Charbel would have won had he not knuckled over.
“That was desperately sad for the owners and David (Bass),” said Bailey, pictured. “He would have won. I’m convinced about that.
“David hadn’t asked him a question. He jumped the fence too well and just knuckled over.
“Thankfully, he’s alright. There’s only one Arkle. I feel convinced he would have won.”
Slipped
As for future plans, Bailey was struggling to come to terms with the race that slipped through his hands.
“He was trained for this day,” said Bailey. “He did not deserve to fall as he jumped the fence fine.”
De Boinville believes he was on the best horse in the race and would have out-gunned Charbel on the run to the winning line.
“Once Altior gets into gear he’s hard to stop,” said De Boinville. “It’s just getting him into gear and when he does he’s gone.”
Altior and Douvan are 5-2 jointfavourites for next year’s Champion Chase with Charbel a very tempting 20-1 with Paddy Power.