Altior to miss weekend engagement

When it came, the explanation made perfect sense. “Altior doesn’t look like Altior,” Nicky Henderson said as he explained his decision to rule his stablestar out of the Grade Two Unibet Silviniaco Conti Chase at Kempton on Saturday, a race which was set to be his first start since surrendering his 19-race unbeaten record over obstacles when beaten by Cyrname in the Christy 1965 Chase at Ascot in November.

An early-morning market drift yesterday suggested that all was not well with the 10-year-old and a tweet from Henderson shortly before midday confirmed the seemingly inevitable.