Altior, trained by
Nicky Henderson and ridden by Nico de Boinville, has won the
Queen Mother Champion Chase at the
Cheltenham Festival, equalling the record of 18 for the most successive wins recorded over jumps.
Jockey Nico De Boinville had the brilliant Nicky Henderson-trained two-miler in a prominent position throughout, chasing the pace set by Saint Calvados.
The field packed up behind Altior going to the last as Sceau Royal and eventual runner-up Politologue challenged on either side. However, the nine-year-old – who had made an early mistake at the water jump – dug deep to prevail by one and three-quarter lengths at odds of 4-11.
Tiger Roll, trying to win this for the second year in a row, is perhaps the most likeable horse running at this Festival, being a tough, durable little tyke who has somehow won a Grand National and three different races at this meeting before he turned nine. It’s a bit of a worry that he seems to be drifting in the betting but then he was allowed to start at 25-1 in his prep-race and he won that.
Auvergnat has 17 lengths to make up on Tiger Roll from last year but the fitting of blinkers helped him win a valuable handicap chase over Christmas and could help him once more. Josie’s Orders has won four times around this idiosyncratic circuit, including a handicap in November, and another big effort would hardly surprise.
France’s Urgent De Gregaine has been consistently good in three runs here and was only two lengths behind Tiger Roll a year ago.