IF you are a jumps fan and want one prospect to sustain you through the dreariness of a seemingly endless summer, Altior vs a revitalised Douvan may well be it. It promises to be a case of an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.

Douvan has my highest timefigure of the season just gone – 175, achieved at Leopardstown over Christmas – while Altior is second on 170 (Game Spirit Chase at Newbury) despite still being a novice. But, as sports commentators are found of putting it, the “momentum” is now with Altior.

While Douvan was injured in defeat at the Cheltenham Festival, Altior won there brilliantly and followed up by handing the Champion Chase winner Special Tiara an eight-length beating in the bet365 Celebration Chase at Sandown on Saturday.

Altior did not advance his reputation in pure time terms, due to a less-than-frenetic pace, but he consolidated it further in terms of sectionals, running from three out in 39.3s, just 0.1s slower than he managed here in December: no other chaser has broken 40.0s this season.

A timefigure of 158 for Altior is perfectly respectable in the circumstances but does show that Special Tiara was holding back more than he sometimes does early on.

One who has been accused of “holding back”, at least later in a race, is L’Ami Serge, who consented to put his best foot forward in the bet365 Select Hurdle, though this was a slowly-run affair, with comfortably the fastest finish over hurdles of the day, and equates to a timefigure of just 97.

Menorah is made of sterner stuff and came back from five months off to win his fourth successive Oaksey Chase with a bang-up-to-scratch 164 timefigure, despite tiring near the end and completing the run-in of just under a furlong 2.7s slower (more than a dozen lengths) than Altior went on to do.