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.
A bitter blow to the whole team, it is heartbreaking to be unable to run Altior @CheltenhamRaces for the second year in a row. pic.twitter.com/Tm538Ni4fF
— Nicky Henderson (@sevenbarrows) March 15, 2021
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.”
