Altior hoping to make history at Sandown with 19th race victory

Nico de Boinville’s mount is hot favourite to win a third successive Celebration Chase at Sandown and eclipse the 18 straight wins recorded by Big Buck’s.

However, Henderson is taking nothing for granted with owner Patricia Pugh’s horse of a lifetime who has not raced since successfully defending the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham last month.

“He loves good, fast ground –but it has got to be safe ground,” cautioned Henderson last night.

With Altior seemingly set to test his powers over three miles next season – potentially in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day – an appearance over the intermediate distance of two and a half in Aintree’s Melling Chase earlier this month was seriously considered.

Connections ultimately decided against a trip to Merseyside because they felt the nine-year-old was not firing on all cylinders, but Henderson is confident his charge is in peak condition again for his seasonal swansong.

He added: “Nico and the team are very good with him, and the horse is very good at talking to you – he will tell you if he is right.

“We had a look at him 10 days before Aintree – and although he was fine, he wasn’t wanting to take off with you. He didn’t need another race at that point, but he is absolutely humming for a race now.”

It did appear that Altior could have faced a mouthwatering clash with the exciting Cyrname, but trainer Paul Nicholls pulled his top steeplechaser out of both the Celebration Chase – and supporting Oaksey Chase – because of the ground.

“Cyrname is not there, but let’s just concentrate on what we are doing and not what everybody else is doing,” said Henderson, who will ironically be succeeded today as champion trainer by the aforementioned Nicholls.

“We’ve just got to try and get on and get our job done. We know Altior likes Sandown. He has hit that flat spot at Cheltenham, but he soon shakes his head – and (then) off he goes, and he is gone. The winning sequence gets longer, but it has to end one day. Having said that, you would love to go out this season with his record still intact.”

A historic win for Altior would be fitting on a card which will see the remarkable Richard Johnson crowned champion jockey for a fourth successive year.

Yet the break will be a shortlived one – the 2019-20 National Hunt season resumes at Cheltenham on Friday for amateur riders, and 24 hours later at Uttoxeter and Hexham for senior jockeys.

Johnson, the second-winning most jump jockey of all time, reached the 200-winner mark for the season at Perth yesterday when Load Up Time won. He is just 725 successes behind the now retired Sir AP McCoy’s 4,348 successes and the 41-year-old intends to keep riding for as long as his body holds out. “I’ll be back to it a week on Saturday and hopefully find somewhere to get off zero and start again,” he said.