Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HE’S ALT OF IT
Defi Du Seuil can take full advantage of Altior absence
NICKY HENDERSON vowed “we’re just lending the crown” after being forced to call time on Altior’s Queen Mother Champion Chase hat-trick bid.
An attempt at a fifth Cheltenham Festival triumph was thrown into doubt when Henderson reported the 10-year-old to be lame. And, although the Seven Barrows trainer hadreported on Monday that Altior’s condition had “improved considerably”, he was forced to admit defeat yesterday.
“We were optimistic but I’m afraid this morning he hadn’t got better from yesterday,” he said.
“We don’t like giving up – we’re just lending the crown to somebody else for a year!” DEFI DU
In Altior’s absence,
SEUIL
(left) is the choice to get the better of Chacun Pour Soi in the Betway-sponsored Champion Chase (ITV, 3.30).
Philip Hobbs’ seven-year-old has the 2017 Triumph Hurdle and last year’s Marsh Novices’ Chase on an impressive CV – and a third Festival triumph beckons.
DEFI DU SEUIL gets a Chacun narrow vote over Pour Soi
in a Champion Chase rendered the poorer by the late defection of Altior.
The two up-and-comers met at Punchestown back in May, when Chacun Pour Soi came out on top by four and a half lengths.
But there are reasons to believe Defi Du Seuil can gain his revenge. From eight visits to Prestbury Park, the Philip Hobbs star has won six times, including victories in the 2017 Triumph Hurdle and last year’s Marsh Novices’ Chase.
After his Punchestown loss, Barry Geraghty’s mount has resumed his upward curve. Having Politologue held in Cheltenham’s Shloer Chase in November, my selection returned to the top tier to lift Sandown Park’s Tingle Creek Chase from Chacun Pour Soi’s stablemate Un De Sceaux.
The margin between the pair increased from a neck to two and threequarter lengths in Ascot’s Clarence House Chase six weeks later – and Defi Du
Seuil, at just seven, can get better still.
Willie Mullins is barely able to contain himself when talk turns to Chacun Pour Soi, and, following a defeat by A Plus Tard at Leopardstown over Christmas, Paul Townend’s mount resumed normal service when beating stablemate Min in the Dublin Chase at the Foxrock course last month.