IT’S not quite had the build-up of Arkle v Mill House or Kauto Star v Denman but the eyes of the racing world will be fixed on Ascot at 2.05 this afternoon as just three runners line for the Christy’s 1965 Chase. The two highest-rated horses over distances up to two and a half miles take each other on, both making their seasonal reappearance. They boast official ratings of 175 (Altior) and 176 respectively.

Altior is the two-mile king, unbeaten since October 2015, a sequence of 19 runs including 14 chases. Cyrname has only five chase wins to his name, but on flat right-handed tracks he has three graded race wins and the merit of his challenge rests on two wins last January and February around this track, the second in the Grade 1 Betfair Ascot Chase where he beat a high quality field in impressive fashion.