Altior chances 'on a knife edge' on eve of Cheltenham Festival 2020

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Altior's chances of competing at the Cheltenham Festival are balanced “on a knife edge”, according to trainer Nicky Henderson.

The dual Queen Mother Champion Chase winner, who has won 20 of his 21 races over jumps, was declared lame on Sunday, just two days before the start of the prestigious four-day Festival, which is set to go ahead despite the coronavirus outbreak.

However, Henderson declared Altior this morning for Wednesday’s race and is hopeful he can leave it until the last minute for the horse to prove his wellbeing. “He had a problem, which was he was lame, which was a devastating blow,” said Henderson today.

“We’re going to monitor it for the next 24 hours. He has a chance, but it’s going to be on a knife edge. If he’s better today, we can take it into tomorrow. He doesn’t race until Wednesday, so we haven’t given up.”

Henderson said his yard planned to put out an official statement later today regarding Altior’s chances of running, as he bids to become its first three-time winner since Badsworth Boy in 1985.

Altior had been undefeated over jumps until last November when he lost over fences at Ascot to Cyrname and was then withdrawn from two subsequent races because of an abscess.

But he returned to winning ways at Newbury last month.

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