Nicky Henderson: The reasons I withdrew Altior from the Tingle Creek Chase

Nicky Henderson insisted at Sandown Park on Saturday that he withdrew Altior from the Betfair Tingle Creek on welfare grounds before adding his outstanding chaser could instead run at Taunton next week if circumstances allow.

One of jump racing’s most celebrated stars, Altior has won 20 of his 21 races over jumps and had been a general 4-5 favourite to win the Grade One showpiece for a second time. The four-time Cheltenham Festival winner was supposed to be the headline act on a day when a limited number of spectactors were back at the Esher track for the first time since early this year following the coronavirus pandemic.

The six-time champion trainer’s decision to scratch the ten-year-old late on Friday evening because he was concerned about the testing ground conditions at the Esher divided the racing community.

Praised and criticised in equal measure, Henderson spoke with Lydia Hislop for ten minutes after racing at Sandown Park to explain more fully why his A List performer was standing idle in his box at Seven Barrows instead of locking horns with old rival Politologue, who won in his absence.

He also raised the tantalising possibility of Altior instead running at Taunton on Thursday - when the trainer will celebrate his 70th birthday - if the Fitzdares Peterborough Chase, which had been scheduled for the abandoned card at Huntingdon on Sunday, is switched to the West Country track.

It is something the BHA are likely to discuss at the start of next week, a spokesman confirmed to racingtv.com. The 2017 running was switched to Taunton under similar circumstances, but took place over an extended 2m5f. The Huntingdon version is over 2m4f.

Henderson had the the blessing of owners Pat and Patricia Pugh to withdraw Altior and said: “It’s heavy ground. I am looking after the horse - that is my job. Altior hates this ground. It takes a lot out of him. You saw what happened at Ascot last year [when he was beaten by Cyrname].

“He does not go in it. He’d probably win in it, but it’s what the damage will do to him and I’m not prepared to do that.

“The horse comes before anything else and his wellbeing and welfare is the only thing I care about. I love racing. I’ve been in it for quite a long time and I do it because I love it. I have all the admiration for all the people that get involved in it. I know they want to see Altior and I wanted to run in it, but if it is not right for the horse then I cannot do it. That is the only thing that matters.

“You saw how he finished at Ascot last year, when Nico had to lead him into the unsaddling enclosure because the horse was too tired to ride in. Do you want to see that all over again? That is welfare, and the welfare of the horse is the only thing that matters.”

Altior’s record points to him having won on all types of surfaces and his form, including three previous defeats of Politologue, gave him outstanding claims. But Henderson was concerned about the gluey conditions and also made direct reference to his age.

He said: “Altior is an older horse now. You have to remember that. After Ascot last year, I just about got him back in time for the Game Spirit Chase at Newbury. That was two and a half months which it took me to get him back. He puts an awful lot into it.

“If Altior had run in that [the Tingle Creek] - win or lose - it would have taken me two months to get him right again and that is not the way to prepare these horses. If you want to see him, then you leave it to me to look after him an get him to the races as regularly as I can.”

Altior’s next race is undecided. Henderson initially suggested the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton over Christmas would be the new plan but then added he was open to running in the Peterborough Chase at Taunton on Thursday.

He said: “The Peterborough Chase has been abandoned at Huntingdon. Two or three years ago it was moved to Taunton. If they would like to move the Peterborough Chase to Taunton where the ground is good, I’d run him. Well I would certainly think about it, but I have got others in there I must admit.

“It’s two miles three and a half at Taunton – that’s going to be an awful lot easier than going round here.”

Henderson had a disappointing day at Sandown when his three runners - sent off at 2-11, 4-7 and 6-4 - were all defeated. And at Aintree, his Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up Santini was beaten on his return, while former star Might Bite was quickly tailed off in the Grand Sefton Chase and ended up being pulled up.

By contrast, Paul Nicholls was left toasting a 1-2 in the Tingle Creek with Politologue chased home by stablemate Greaneteen. Nevertheless, Nicholls was frustrated Altior was not in the line-up and suggested on Racing TV that his absence might not be entirely ground-related.

Speaking before Henderson was interviewed, he said: "If he'd [Altior] have been here we may have beaten him, or may have finished second to him. It would have been a hell of a horse race and we might get a crack another day. I certainly wouldn't be scared of him.

"They've obiously got a few little issues, otherwise he would have run today. The ground was as soft, if not softer, two years ago when he won, so quite what's going on I don't know.

"He must have some issues because Nicky's a positive guy and all week he's been positive. It's a shame for racing he wasn't here but we've turned up with a fresh and very fit horse who's done the job very nicely."