Nicky Henderson’s Altior to miss the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown racecourse next month
NICKY HENDERSON's Altior will miss the Tingle Creek at Sandown next month.
Henderson's brilliant chaser - who was the 4-6 favourite for the contest - had been due to make his seasonal reappearance at Sandown, but will miss the race due to "a wind problem".
Henderson told Unibet: "I'm really disappointed to report that Altior will miss the Grade 1 Tingle Creek at Sandown next month due to a wind problem that has surfaced, which means he will not be ready in time.
"He started faster work last week in the build-up to Sandown and did an excellent piece with Lough Derg Spirit last Tuesday.
"He was actually quite brilliant, and it is quite bizarre this has come up as up until now he had shown no signs whatsoever that there was anything untoward.
"However, he made a whistling noise on Saturday so we did an overland scope yesterday, which is basically galloping while being scoped.
Templegate's treble
NAP 3.30 Ludlow - Petite Power: 'Been running well in better races than this off the same mark'
NEXT BEST 6.25 Chelmsford - Magic Pulse: 'She was not beaten far after getting hampered on her handicap debut'
TREBLE 2.35 Taunton - New Millennium: 'Put up a career-best last time and has more to offer'
"And between our own vet Dave Matterson and Geoff Lane they both concluded that he has a small issue with his wind whereby his larynx isn't opening sufficiently so after discussing the matter with his owners, Christopher and Pat Pugh, we decided that he will need a small procedure to rectify the problem."