ALTIOR LOOKS CLASS APART
THE undisputed champion of steeplechasing puts the most impressive record in jumping on the line in today’s Betfair Tingle Creek Chase.
ALTIOR (Sandown, 3.0) is one of four horses who go to post for one of the key two-mile chases in the calendar. Any of them would by a worthy winner of the historic contest.
One of them, Willie Mullins-trained Un De Sceaux, won it in 2016, but in Altior they are up against a very special horse.
To borrow and twist a phrase used in boxing, Altior is pound for pound the best jumper in the business across all divisions.
The last time he was beaten was in April 2015, when he was unplaced behind Bellshill in a National Hunt Flat race at the Punchestown Festival.
Since then Altior has won every one of his 14 races over jumps — five over hurdles and nine over fences. That is the
2.25
same total as the mighty Frankel managed in his entire career.
Last season did not go to plan. Altior needed a breathing operation which meant he missed this race and did not make his seasonal comeback until February.
But he went on to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham by a gaping seven lengths from another Mullins mount, Min.
This will be the first run of the season for Nico de Boinville’s mount but everything that trainer Nicky Henderson has said about
Altior’s build-up has been positive — and his stable is in a rich vein of form with eight wins from the last 17 runners.
The way the race might pan out could also help Altior. Both Un De Sceaux and Saint Calvados force the pace, which should enable Altior to sit in and wait to pounce.
The Becher Chase looks a cracking contest with three previous winners — Blaklion, Highland Lodge and Vieux Lion Rouge — in the line-up. But improving Irish raider
CROSSHUE BOY (Aintree, nap, 1.30) is a big player after a warm-up over hurdles.