Henderson surprise present to fans with Altior on new mission in Desert Orchid

2.30 Kempton
Unibet Desert Orchid Chase | 2m | Grade 2 | ITV4/RTV

Santa Claus, the Queen and Claudia Winkleman were all expected to play starring roles over Christmas and duly did so. Now, however, a surprise appearance will be made by the sport's outstanding two-mile chaser Altior, who headlines the second day of Kempton's festive festival.

Fifteen runs over fences and hurdles have yielded 15 wins for Altior, who made a perfect seasonal return when powering clear from Un De Sceaux to land Sandown's Tingle Creek Chase under Nico de Boinville.

Altior: easy winner of the Wayward Lad Novices' Chase on this day two years agoCredit: Mark Cranham

After that stirring display Altior's connections briefly dallied with the idea of contesting the King George VI Chase. That thought was shelved until next year, and even though the Unibet Desert Orchid Chase was named as an alternative, Nicky Henderson suggested next month's Clarence House Chase at Ascot was still the likeliest next port of call for the triple Cheltenham Festival hero.

Yet in a welcome change of plan Altior is heading from Seven Barrows along the M4 and M3 to Kempton, where his three career victories have been achieved by an accumulative 94 lengths, the most recent of which came on this card two years ago in the Wayward Lad Novices' Chase.

"Altior has been very well and there's a valuable race there for him to run in, so we decided to run him," said Henderson.

"He might as well have a gallop around Kempton. I know we said we decided against letting him go for the King George, but the Desert Orchid Chase is a different ball game altogether."

Altior and Nico de Boinville were muddy but marvellous winners of the Tingle CreekCredit: Edward Whitaker

The soon-to-be nine-year-old is generally around 8-13 to defend his Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase crown but he will be much shorter for this Grade 2 prize, in which three of his opponents – dual Desert Orchid Chase winner Special Tiara, novice Diakali and right-handed specialist Speredek – are all habitual front-runners, often at Usain Bolt-like speed.

That, though, is not a concern to Henderson, and nor is the fact Altior was lame the morning after the Tingle Creek having lost a shoe in the race.

"Nico has been very happy with him since the Tingle Creek," said his trainer. "We've schooled him and he did a nice bit of work last week. Nico said he felt brilliant.

"Most of the horses against him all go on, which is fine – we certainly won't be making the running anyway! I hope he'll be as good as he was at Sandown and there's no reason why he won't be."

What the other say

Paul Nicholls, trainer of Diego Du Charmil
He's got a very tough task up against Altior, but there aren't many options for him and he likes good ground, so we decided to take our chance.

Josh Moore, rider of Diakali
Two of the horses who beat him at Sandown are running in the Wayward Lad, so we thought we'd have a go at this race instead, hoping we might have a better chance of picking up a bit more prize-money.

Speredek is set to go fast and furious at the front of the fieldCredit: Mark Cranham

Henry de Bromhead, trainer of Special Tiara
He seems in super form and the ground should be fine, but it’s a very hot race.

Nigel Hawke, trainer of Speredek
It's the perfect race for us – the only problem is Altior has followed us to Kempton. We can't keep running away from him and this track should suit us down to the ground. On all known ratings you'd say we've no chance of winning, but the favourite won't have an easy race as he'll have to go with us. You can also guarantee our horse will keep going as he's won over nearly three miles.

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