With Altior making a satisfactory return to action at Newbury on Saturday, champion trainer Nicky Henderson holds an even stronger hand in some of next month’s key races at the Cheltenham Festival.
Altior, now unbeaten in all 12 of his races over hurdles and fences and a Festival winner last year and also in 2016, is now a best 11/10 with Betway in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and odds-on with some major bookmakers. He looked a little ring-rusty at Newbury but still had way too much for Grade 1 winner Politilogue. The Henderson stable has won the Champion Chase in three of the last six years whereas Willie Mullins, trainer of likely market rivals Min (a best 10/3) and Douvan, has never managed to win the two-miler despite his dominance in other contests at The Festival.
Queen Mother Champion Chase Current Best Odds
Altior 11/10, Min 10/3, Douvan 7/1, Politilogue 10/1, Fox Norton and Un Des Sceaux 12/1, Great Field 14/1, Special Tiara and Yorkhill 16/1, Top Notch 20/1, Charbel 25/1, Ar Mad and Forest Bihan 33/1, A Toi Phil, Black Hercules, Polidam, God’s Own, Ordinary World and Ball D’arc 50/1
Native River won the Denman Chase at Newbury over the weekend and last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup third is a best 13/2 to go two places better this year. His stable looks to be coming into form at just the right time and there are certainly worse each-way bets in the big race on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival but the Henderson’s Might Bite remains the general 7/2 in chasing’s Blue Riband. After a slow start to his chasing career, the nine-year-old has won his last five, three of them at the highest level. He took the RSA Chase at Cheltenham last year and remains the one to beat. Defending champion Sizing John is 7/1 with Sportingbet.
Buveur D’Air is impossible to oppose in the Champion Hurdle but is priced accordingly. The defending champion will feature in plenty of accumulators at the Cheltenham Festival as he looks a banker but you will struggle to get anything bigger than 4/9 and that may be even shorter on the day.
Another possible winner for the Henderson team is in the Triumph Hurdle for four-year-olds as the filly Apple’s Shakira will be defending an unbeaten record and getting weight again from the geldings. All three of her victories in the UK have come at Cheltenham but there is unknown factor in the going if, as usual, there is good ground by the time The Festival comes around. Only a best 3/1 with Sportingbet, she’s never raced on anything quicker than soft and might be vulnerable to a few of the ex-Flat types that invariably turn up in this race like Mr Adjudicator (a general 8/1) and Redicean (a general 10/1).
Most bookmakers are now non-runner no bet on all Cheltenham races.
