Altior denied chance to land famous hat-trick at Cheltenham Festival

Michael Cooper10 March 2020

Defi Du Seuil can take advantage of the absence of Altior by landing the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham on Wednesday.

The two-mile showpiece will not be the contest it promised to be with two-time winner Altior taken out on Tuesday morning. The ten-year-old suffered a knock on Sunday, but hopes were high he would still be able to defend his crown before trainer Nicky Henderson reluctantly ruled him out with the injury requiring more time to heal.

Henderson said: “What is really disappointing is the improvement from the night before last to yesterday morning was so good that we were genuinely optimistic that, as long as that recovery rate was maintained, we figured he’d be sound this morning, and that is not the case.

“He hasn’t improved at all from last night, whereas the night before he improved dramatically. Consequently, I think it’s only right now that he will be taken out of the race.”

By contrast, Defi Du Seuil will arrive at the meeting in peak shape. The Philip Hobbs-trained seven-year-old has already chalked up six wins at Cheltenham and this term has won the two traditional build-ups to this race in the Tingle Creek Chase and Clarence House Chase.

He has all the attributes of a champion in that he jumps well, travels strongly and has a great turn of foot.

Cheltenham Gold Cup 2020: The contenders

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Those assets, coupled with his brilliance at Cheltenham, will make him very hard to beat.

Irish challenger Chacun Pour Soi is the obvious threat after his fluent defeat of Min in the Dublin Chase at Leopardstown last time. But he lacks experience — he has had only five race over fences — and has never run at Cheltenham before.

It could still be a memorable day for Henderson, who is fancied to strike with Champ in the in the RSA Novices’ Chase and Dame De Compagnie in the Coral Cup. The former suffered a fall last time, but will be hard to beat if putting in a clear round, while the latter looks still to be improving. Champ and Dame De Compagnie are owned by JP McManus and his silks can also be carried to victory in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle by Aramax.

Tiger Roll, Envoi Allen and Appreciate It can complete wins on day two.

Michael Cooper's full day two tips

1:30pm Envoi Allen
2:10pm Champ (nb)
2:50pm Dame De Compagnie
3:30pm Defi Du Seuil​
4:10pm Tiger Roll
4:50pm Aramax
5:30pm Appreciate It (nap)

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