BEST of the BETS

Nicky Henderson's star chaser Altior has been ruled out of his planned comeback in the Betfair Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown on Saturday as a result of the ground conditions.

Speaking on Friday night, Henderson said: "It is with a heavy heart we have decided that Altior is not going to run. We simply don't want to bottom him again given what happened last year."

So it's a Fairweather horse ? It's an old dog now anyway and the younger horses will come to the fore. It's been an amazing horse for connections and in its prime right up there with some of the best. Age is against it and it will turn up at Cheltenham one would presume. But Henderson did this with sprinter sacre and my point is these are not machines.as they get older it takes a strain on the heart and causes irregularities .what if the ground at Cheltenham is similar or worse than today ? I'll bet he won't think twice about running it.