Altior facing key workout to determine King George plans

Graham Clark
December 9, 2019 6:38 am

De Boinville feedback set to be crucial.

Nicky Henderson expects to make a decision on Altior’s Ladbrokes King George VI participation after a piece of work at the end of the week.

Altior had his 19-race winning streak ended when stepped up to two miles and five furlongs at Ascot last month, ultimately finding Cyrname too strong in the Christy 1965 Chase.

“Nico (de Boinville) will have a sit on him at the end of this week, whether it is Friday or Saturday,” said Henderson.

“I know and he knows exactly what we are going to do – he will be able to tell me exactly what he thinks and we will judge it on that. We will know after that which way we are going to go.

“We’ve been down this line before. The first year he won the Champion Chase we did a bit of work to determine if we would go to Aintree, and after it Nico said, ‘no, he hasn’t recovered’.”

Henderson also suggested a change to a lighter work rider at home might have lulled him into a false sense of security.

“The signs at home have been very good. Joe Anderson has been riding him every day and he says he feels great. Every day, even on a Monday morning when he is doing one canter, he was carrying 12st 7lb with Toby (Lawes) on board, now he is only carrying 9st 7lb.

“You are not going to suddenly stick three stone of lead on him, but on the other hand you could say that is what you should do.”