Altior can still be Champion Chase force – Nicky Henderson

The champion trainer wants the 2018 and 2019 Queen Mother hero to have a prep run in the Betfair Cheltenham Free Pot Builder Chase at Newbury this Saturday.

Henderson’s superstar, a four-time Festival winner in the colours of Patricia Pugh, has won the Grade Two event, registered as the Game Spirit Chase, three times already, but he has plenty to prove.

Having missed the defence of his Champion Chase crown through an 11th hour setback last term, he did not reappear until Kempton at Christmas when he had no answer to the previously unproven Nube Negra.

Henderson thinks Altior is on better terms with himself now, though, and is banking on him to regain the winning thread.

The problem is the weather – an inspection tomorrow will determine if Newbury’s high-profile card can beat the elements or have to be rearranged.

Henderson is also conscious of the strength of the Irish challenge ahead of Cheltenham after Chacun Pour Soi confirmed his Champion Chase credentials with an impressive win at Leopardstown last weekend.

Speaking of Altior, Henderson said: “He’s good, I think. Everything has gone well and this is the next step.

“He likes Newbury and his demeanour seems better to me than it was prior to Christmas – he’s more like his old self.

“The one thing he loves is schooling. I’m not very good at filming and blogging and the like, but we schooled him the other morning and (my wife) Sophie filmed him.

“We were schooling in the fog, you couldn’t see the first fence then this thing appeared, jumping the three in the middle of the five and then he disappeared into the fog again. You could see how incredibly quick, fast and accurate he is through the air. Nico (de Boinville) likes schooling him, but I find it terrifying to watch.”

Should things not go to plan this weekend, Altior does still have the option of stepping up in trip for the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham.

“We’ve kept the option open of the Ryanair, he’s stayed in both,” Henderson told Great British Racing.

“We’ve said before, Champion Chase but not full stop. It does look as if he’s lost a yard of pace. Two or three years ago we didn’t have a horse in the place who could work with him – it was like Sprinter Sacre and Simonsig, they were the only two who could go with each other.

“If after Newbury it looked like he did need two and a half, then he’s got the option. Nico has been desperate to run him over it ever since the fateful day at Ascot (when beaten by Cyrname last season).

“That wasn’t because of stamina he got beaten that day, it was ground and lack of fitness – I should never have run him.”

As well as Altior, Henderson hopes to run Gold Cup contender Champ in the Denman Chase where Brian Ellison’s Definitly Run is due to have the first of two prep runs before the Randox Grand National.

But Henderson was left in awe of Willie Mullins’s domination of the Dublin Racing Festival and knows his string will have to be at their very best to halt the Irish challenge at Cheltenham.

“I wish I hadn’t watched it actually – it was slightly frightening!” said Henderson. “I certainly haven’t shown it to one or two horses. I don’t think Epatante needed to see Honeysuckle, or Shishkin needed to see Willie’s two-mile novice (Energumene) and Altior needed to see Chacun Por Soi.

“I saw them and it gave me a mighty fright. I’ve never seen anything like it. Well done Willie – it was the most staggering weekend.”

The Dublin Racing Festival also gives the Irish horses an extra week to get over their exertions before Cheltenham, and Henderson is just hoping for no hiccups.

“The timing for them is better than this weekend for us, to be honest, to Cheltenham. From the Irish point of view, it will be perfect,” he added.

“There’s always pressure. These aren’t trials, but for Champ it is a form of prep race as he hasn’t had one since the RSA. For Altior, it’s more of a trial as I need to prove he’s a Champion Chase horse. He’s already won it, but he didn’t make it last year because of a splint.

“The dream is still alive with them, but by Saturday night the dream could be over and that would be blisteringly disappointing, because when you think you have a Gold Cup horse and a Champion Chaser, I need to go to bed on Saturday night still having them.

“If everything went badly wrong, it would be like being stabbed in the back, so we go into these sorts of days with a certain amount of trepidation.”

Former Cheltenham Festival winner Yorkhill has been retired by golfer Lee Westwood and co-owner Dave Armstrong.

Previously trained in Ireland by Willie Mullins for then owner Sir Graham Wylie, Yorkhill appeared to lose his way before being switched to the Scottish Borders stables of Sandy Thomson.

The resurgent horse then won Newcastle’s Rehearsal Chase under an inspired frontrunning ride by Ryan Mania, the former Grand National-winning jockey, and was being trained for the Gold Cup before a setback.

“He unfortunately picked up a small injury that would have taken him out for the year,” said Armstrong as he confirmed the horse’s retirement.

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