Altior ruled out of Cheltenham Festival for second straight year
Altior, with Nico de Boinville up, on their way to winning the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase on Day Two of the Cheltenham Racing Festival at Prestbury Park in Cheltenham, England. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Altior has been ruled out of the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase at the 11th hour for a second successive year.
Nicky Henderson’s 11-year-old, who has won the race twice previously as well as the Arkle and the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, coughed after exercise on Monday.
The veteran has made it to the track just twice since November 2019 when he met with his first defeat over obstacles at the hands of Cyrname.
Altior was forced to miss last year’s Queen Mother with a splint, which emerged the weekend before the race.
Henderson released the news via a statement on Twitter which read: “We are very sorry that we have taken the decision not to run Altior in the Champion Chase on Wednesday.
“He coughed after exercise this morning, which caused us to scope him, and as a result of what we have seen it would not be sensible to run him.”
PA Media
Related Content
Most Watched
Play
Play
Play
Play
Play
Latest Horse Racing
- Roy Curtis Opinion Horseracing is blessed to be able to turn to Willie Mullins to author a powerful message of redemption
- Cheltenham 2021: All your top tips from our experts on Day One of the Festival
- Honeysuckle to bloom and Mullins magic - Michael Verney's race-by-race guide to day one of the Festival
- 'We've literally been frozen out, entitled to nothing...A lot of people have remortgaged houses to stay afloat'
- Cheltenham Day One: Wayne Bailey’s race-by-race guide as Epatante gets set for double
Most Read
- Cheltenham Day One: Wayne Bailey’s race-by-race guide as Epatante gets set for double
- Cheltenham 2021: All your top tips from our experts on Day One of the Festival
- Mullins leads green revolution at Cheltenham with further dominance of Prestbury Cup in store
- Honeysuckle to bloom and Mullins magic - Michael Verney's race-by-race guide to day one of the Festival
- Altior ruled out of Cheltenham Festival for second straight year
Latest
- Ireland set for 110,000 extra doses of Pfizer vaccine as delivery of jab accelerated in Europe
- Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney's libel battle returns to court
- CJ Stander unhappy with IRFU contract offer as he announces shock retirement from rugby at end of this season
- Roy Curtis Opinion Horseracing is blessed to be able to turn to Willie Mullins to author a powerful message of redemption
- Pandemic support payment for 465,000 unemployed to be reviewed in June