ALTIOR IN LINE FOR SWIFT RETURN AFTER MISSING OUT

NICKY HENDERSON is considering running Altior in the new Grade Two Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton on January 11 with the gelding forced to miss this afternoon’s Desert Orchid Chase because of an abscess. He could wait until the Clarence House Stakes at Ascot on January 18 but yesterday favoured the Kempton race. The trainer, who described the latest setback as ‘infuriating’, added: ‘He is very sore but if the race were on Saturday he’d be fine. Now we can afford to give him some antibiotics. ‘We had decided what we were going to do and now we’ve had to revamp. There are two races but you know where is the chance of better ground and that is here at Kempton. We know Ascot has been very soft all winter.’ Altior’s season has so far been full of frustration. The top two-mile chaser in Britain was beaten over two miles and five furlongs by Cyrname in the 1965 Chase at Ascot last month in what was his first run at further than two miles. That tough race meant he missed the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown and also prompted Henderson to scrap plans to run Altior in yesterday’s King George VI Chase. Meanwhile, Chacun Pour Soi, one of the biggest threats to Altior’s Champion Chase crown, makes his seasonal debut in the Grade One Paddy Power Rewards Club Chase at Leopardstown this afternoon. Chacun Pour Sol has won his two races since arriving at the Willie Mullins stable. The French-bred chaser’s victories included a very impressive four-and-aquarter length defeat of Defi Du Seuil in the Grade One Ryanair Chase at Punchestown in May.