Altior and Nico de Boinville© Photo Healy Racing
Altior is a remarkable horse and barring accidents looks almost assured to win back to back Queen Mother Champion Chases at Cheltenham on Wednesday 13th March.
The race has a tradition of repeat winners such as Viking Flagship, Moscow Flyer, Master Minded, Sprinter Sacre and Badsworth Boy, who won three in a row in the early 1980s, and Altior looks every bit as good as any of them.
Unbeaten in 17 straight races since finishing sixth in the Punchestown Champion Bumper in April 2015 Altior has won at each of the last three Cheltenham Festivals — Supreme Novices Hurdle 2016, Arkle Novices Chase 2017 and Champion Chase last year.
Altior’s current odds of 2/5 BoyleSports reflect his dominance of the two mile division and despite giving his supporters the odd mid-race jitters, including when coming off the bridle three fences from home in last season’s Champion Chase, he is ideally suited to Cheltenham and the uphill finish plays to his strengths.
Second favourite Min (5/1 Bet365) is a top class performer in his own right but twice he has run at Cheltenham and twice he has finished seven lengths behind Altior, once over hurdles and once over fences in last season’s Champion Chase.
Un De Sceaux© Photo Healy Racing
On the two occasions the pair met Min was sent to the front with two obstacles to jump so you would expect to see different tactics employed on him this time but even so it is difficult to see it making the required difference.
Footpad, like Altior, is an Arkle Chase winner at the Festival. He was a decent hurdler but has already made into a better chaser and it is not stretching the truth too far to suggest that with a little luck he could still be unbeaten over fences. He suffered an overreach at an early fence on his seasonal debut and looked all over the winner at Leopardstown at Christmas before getting nabbed close home by Simply Ned.
At his best Footpad (9/1 Unibet) is an exceptional jumper of a fence and if he does ping every one in the Champion Chase he would certainly put it up to Altior. He blundered badly at the sixth fence in last season’s Arkle but still posted a winning time which was 5 seconds quicker than Altior’s (carrying 6 pounds less weight than Altior) the following day so he is capable of a big performance.
Un de Sceaux is the third of Willie Mullins’ entries but is probably more likely to go for the Ryanair Chase which he has run in on each of the last two years. He is also a former Arkle Chase winner and finished second to Sprinter Sacre in the 2016 Champion Chase so he would not be without his chance if connections do decide to run here.
He has already raced toe to toe with Altior this season in the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown in early December and although well held at the finish, beaten 4 lengths, he ran with real credit and is capable of making a race of it with the Champion.
Footpad© Photo Healy Racing
Of the remaining entries the likes of Simply Ned, Saint Calvados, Sceaux Royal, Politologue, Fox Norton and God’s Own are all of a similar level but that falls some way short of what is required to win an average Champion Chase never mind one with an exceptional favourite.
So, it boils down to Altior V Mullins. Any of the three Willie Mullins horses are capable on their day of giving him a decent race but the one that could really test him is Footpad. He went to Navan racecourse for a schooling session recently and was, by all accounts, electric over his fences.
With the mere thought of Altior and Footpad upsides racing down to the last I can feel a slight tingle. Now that really would be something worth paying a subscription for!
Selections
1 Altior 2/5 BoyleSports
2 Footpad 9/1 Unibet
3 Min 5/1 Bet365
By Vincent Finegan
