Altior is going to miss the JLT Melling Chase at Aintree in favour of concentrating on the race at Sandown later in the month, according to a report on Racing Ahead.
Altior has an unbeaten record over fences with eight consecutive victories, with the latest coming at the Cheltenham Festival in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.
The eight-year-old horse was expected to participate at Aintree this month but trainer Nicky Henderson has confirmed that Altior will not race at the event this year.
Henderson wasn’t sure about pulling Altior out of the Merseyside event but after some thought, he decided it was best if he focused on defending his title at Sandown in the bet365 Celebration Chase at the end of this month.
The trainer said:
We have decided that Altior will not run at Aintree in the Melling Chase on Friday and will instead head to Sandown for the Celebration Chase, which he won last year.
I would loved to have tried him over two and a half miles, and it was a real temptation, but we’ve got another Grade One in a fortnight’s time around a track he likes and as we can’t do both, we will wait.
