NEWBURY AIM FOR ALTIOR
CHAMPION Chase favourite Altior, who was expected to head to Cheltenham without a prep run following a breathing operation, could be seen on the racecourse before March after all.
He has recovered so well from the op that trainer Nicky Henderson is targeting the Betfair Exchange Chase at Newbury on February 10, a race he won in stunning style 12 months ago as a novice.
“Altior’s really good and Newbury could still easily be on the agenda,” said the 67-year-old Henderson, who was married for the second time at the weekend.
“If he’s not quite ready (for the Betfair Exchange Chase) then I’ll be asking Richard Osgood, the clerk of the course, if he can come and have a gallop at Newbury that day.”
Henderson hinted, however, that his Gold Cup favourite Might Bite, who won the King George VI Chase at Kempton last month, may head to the Festival without the benefit of ® another run. The Betfair Chase on the same Newbury card is an option for Might Bite but Henderson said: “He’s in great form but I’d be 49-51 against running.”
Henderson is setting Champion Hurdle eighth Brain Power a huge task on his third chase as a novice this weekend, when he will take on Un De Sceaux, the winner of seven Grade One races, in Ascot’s Clarence House Chase.
Henderson says Brain Power jumped ‘fantastic’ in a schooling session last week.
“In my mind it’s the right place to take him and get that jumping experience into him before we run out of time,” added the trainer.
Henderson continues to notch up the winners with a double at Newbury yesterday, both ridden by Nico de Boinville.
Whatswrongwithyou (7-4) beat odds-on favourite Ok Corral by three-quarters of a length in the extended two-mile novice hurdle, while Morning Vicar (5-1) won the closing bumper by two lengths from favourite Baddesley Knight.