Nicky Henderson's stable star Altior will take one more step towards the 2019 Cheltenham Festival on Saturday afternoon when he faces a measly two rivals in the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase at Ascot.
Unsurprisingly, a short-priced favourite to beat Fox Norton and Diego Du Charmil in the valuable feature race at the Berkshire venue, Altior is aiming to record his 12th consecutive win over fences and his 17th over obstacles, but it's the manner in which he has won those 11 previous chase races that has seen him launch into the National Hunt limelight.
Heading into the chasing division on the back of a memorable win in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle, Altior continued on an upward curve and his 63-length annihilation of Black Corton on his chase debut at Kempton Park on November 21st, 2016 just gave a glimmer of the dominance the Seven Barrows inmate was to have over fences.
A comfortable six-length win in the Grade 1 Henry VII Novices' Chase at Sandown a few weeks later was then followed by an 18-length demolition of his rivals in the Wayward Lad Novices' Chase at Kempton Park. A 13-length victory followed, while he cruised to victory in the 2017 Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham - beating his rivals by six lengths.
Breezing through his novice chasing career, Altior's dominance continued in the all-age chasing ranks and his fine season culminated last season a sensational seven-length victory in the 2018 Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
A facile 19-length victory last time out in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton Park showed he is still the greatest over fences, and his magnificent record was enhanced with that comfortable success.
Having raced in 11 chases, Altior has won those races by an accumulative distance of 151¼ lengths with his smallest ever victory over fences coming at the end of the last season, as he beat San Benedeto by 3¼ in the Celebration Chase at Sandown Park. While his 63-length win on his chase debut may skew the figures a little with his average distance win over fences coming in at 13.72 lengths, he has still amassed four wins by over ten lengths and is yet to be tested over fences, and tomorrow's Clarence House Chase should pose little problems again.
Watch Altior cruise to victory in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton Park last month:
The sequence over obstacles continues for Altior in the Unibet Desert Orchid Chase @kemptonparkrace
Results ➡
