James Doe: That was a superb ride by Nico de Boinville. Altior kept getting bumped and had no space for a large majority of the time, but that final furlong was special. What a horse!

Image source, Reuters

Altior makes his way way into the winners' enclosure to a backing for strings and cheers.

Trainer Nicky Henderson and Nico de Boinville are going through a debrief.

But not a lot to say about that really.

He was riding a horse that looked like a dragster up against a set of bangers.

A great shot of copies of the racecard being tossed skyward in the grandstand as punters celebrate another well-backed winner.

Nico de Boinville waggles his whip towards the fans.

A happy day for everyone except the turf accountants.

Favourite-backers needn't have worried.

Altior looked like he had been sucked back into the pack, but Nico de Boinville found a route out, pressed the pedal and surged clear of the rest.

It was a winning margin of about 12 lengths or so.

Douvan and Patrick Mullins are both walking back towards the stables, apparently OK.

1 Altior (Nico de Boinville) Evens Fav

2 Min (P Townend) 5-2

3 God's Own (P J Brennan) 40-1

Min and God's Own are leading with two to go...

Three from home and Douvan and Patrick Mullins are sent tumbling...

Politilogue hits the front. Favourite Altior in third...

Now then.

Douvan makes a move and makes it early.

Patrick Mullins urges him on and it looks eager.

Special Tiara got it all wrong at fence five and a five-length lead evaporates down to a length and a half.

And Charbel is down at six. Jockey David Bass looks OK.

And we are off in the big one.

Special Tiara and Ar Mad are the ones taking it out.

A feisty pace so far...

Politologue was seen off with some ease by Altior at Newbury last month. But his front running style might put him in the mix if chaos unfurls behind.

Can Special Tiara take victory again?

or will Altior take the crown?

The field are on their way to the start...

So who could upset the Altior applecart?

Well, there is a lot of smart money heading the way of Min, who was second behind his rival in a Supreme Novices here in 2016.

The other Willie Mullins contender Douvan is a two-time winner at Cheltenham, but is missing injured jockey Ruby Walsh and looks unsettled on his way to the start.

Special Tiara is under the radar. He won this race last year, and is in better form now than 12 months ago.

Frank Keogh
BBC Sport at Cheltenham

It is feared jockey Ruby Walsh, the Festival's all-time leading rider, has broken the same leg which ruled him out for four months just before the meeting.

Walsh is stable jockey for trainer Willie Mullins, who has been speaking to BBC racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght,

"It looks as if it’s the same injury as before. Its right on the same point, but until we get the X-rays we cant be sure," he said.

"It’s hugely disappointing for Ruby and everyone. That’s sport. We have to pick up and move on. He’s got an injury and I’m hoping he’ll recover from it."

Lizzie Kelly
Jockey on BBC Radio 5 live

I do like Altior, he's a fantastic horse with amazing presence and has never really done anything wrong so you'd be mad to look outside.

But it is a race and things do happen and I think there are a lot of horses ready to take over the crown, if anything did happen.

Image source, Getty

Lee Westwood's career earning from golf are more than £38m.

And yesterday, he topped that up to the tune of £22,000 when he backed every single winner on the first day.

Nice work.

Tom Scudamore on Mark Walsh's victory: "Great for Mark Walsh. Superb rider. What a spare to pick up. You have to feel a bit sorry for Paul Townend. Originally due to ride this horse and tragically for Ruby Walsh, he gets injured and swapped over. I don't know right now how he'll be feeling about that."

Image source, Reuters

Jockey Tom Scudamore on BBC Radio 5 live: "The one thing that people underestimate with Ruby is how tough he is. He's not just mentally tough he's physically tough as well. For peace-of-mind he'll have an x-ray and see how it feels and look if it's possible that he can ride tomorrow."

Image source, PA

Rich Ricci - who owns both - believes Min can beat Douvan, but neither of them will beat favourite Altior.

"I don't think either Douvan or Min will beat Altior by the way," he told BBC Radio 5 live.

"I think Min will beat Douvan. It would be fantastic if Douvan won - it would be the most fantastic training performance of all time but I think Altior is very hard to beat."

Douvan will be ridden by Patrick Mullins in the absence of Ruby Walsh. Walsh had opted for Douvan ahead of Min.