Nicky Henderson hopes to have Altior back for Cheltenham Festival

Nicky Henderson hopes Altior can return for the Cheltenham Festival in March after the master of Seven Barrows was forced to rule out his two-mile star from next month’s Betfair Tingle Creek Chase due to a wind problem.

Last season’s Arkle winner is set to have his wind operated on and there is only a possibility that he will be in any shape to have a prep run before his potential clash with Douvan in the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase.

The seven-year-old was odds-on for the two-mile crown on Tuesday night, and was shunted out to a best-priced 6-4 with Skybet on Wednesday evening for the two-mile crown. Douvan is a general 3-1.

Altior underwent a ‘quite brilliant’ piece of work with Elite Hurdle second Lough Derg Spirit last Tuesday but then made a whistling noise on Saturday. Henderson then put him through an overland scope while galloping and vets Dave Matterson and Geoff Lane concluded that his larynx was not opening sufficiently.

"I’m really disappointed to report that Altior will miss the Tingle Creek at Sandown next month due to a wind problem that has surfaced which means he will not be ready in time,” Henderson said.

“Unfortunately this is quite common. Indeed, Might Bite and Sprinter Sacre both had the exact same operation.

Altior was th 4-7 favourite for the Tingle Creek but started to drift at around 3pm on Wednesday (PA)

“Might Bite last autumn and Sprinter after the Supreme, but sadly this has reared its ugly head at the wrong time and there is nothing we can do about it."

The trainer added in his Unibet blog: "As a consequence, we have been forced to miss the Tingle Creek but hopefully he will be back in time for the Champion Chase at Cheltenham in March and perhaps the other Championship races in the spring.

“Whether we are able to fit in a prep race, we don’t know and only time will tell, I certainly wouldn’t want to speculate. We can have racecourse gallops if we need too, but Altior will have a month’s box rest and we’ll go from there. His health is our only priority.”

Last year's winner Un De Sceaux is the new 9-4 favourite for the Tingle Creek on December 9, with Haldon Gold Cup winner Politologue at 11-4 and Fox Norton, in th ownership of the late Alan Potts, the 9-2 third favourite.

Altior’s misfortune comes exactly 12 months after a brutal weekend for the trainer when the curtain was brought down on Sprinter Sacre’s career at Cheltenham’s November meeting, which starts on Friday. Simonsig also died the same weekend at Prestbury Park.

“The irony of this whole thing is that it is literally a year to the day when I was forced to retire Sprinter Sacre and dear old Simonsig lost his life, so this is a week to forget but we have to face it and get on with things,” he continued.

“We have the best advisors and surgeons ready to go and we intend to have this remedied as soon as possible, perhaps even tomorrow. The good news is that this horse doesn’t have to retire and he will be back, make no mistake about it.

“The timing is brutal and it’s tough for us all and I was only saying last week how you need luck in this game to keep all the big boys going and sadly, for us, luck has run out temporarily.”