Altior stretched his unbeaten run over obstacles to 17 with a routine success in the Matchbook Clarence House Chase at Ascot.
Sent off the 1/10 favourite, Nicky Henderson's brilliant star made every yard of the running with the only criticism of the performance being a tendency to jump to his left - significantly so at a couple of obstacles.
However Nico De Boinville never showed any anxiety in the saddle and having gone ten lengths clear before the turn for home, he had proceedings under total control.
Fox Norton was second throughout and ran a nice race on his return to action but was seven lengths adrift of the eased-down winner at the line.
"It's the sort of thing you see horses do around here," said Henderson. "He doesn't need to go left, but we know he's so much better at Cheltenham. He had to go and do his own thing, and we knew he'd have to make the running. If something came to him I think he'd have gone again - he was idling a bit.
"Yes, he did drift left. But it's not his natural thing - he'll be going left (handed at Cheltenham) next time."
Altior has put himself on course to equal Big Buck's all-time record of 18 successive victories over jumps, in defence of his Queen Mother Champion Chase crown at the Cheltenham Festival in March.
Henderson said: "You are getting to an extraordinary sequence if you like, that he is building up. We know where we are going next, and he won't run again before Cheltenham - that's why I rather wanted to do it this way. There are two Grade Ones and a Grade Two along the way - take that, then freshen up for Cheltenham - because that is the main objective, and we can decide what we do after that."
Altior is the latest in a series of outstanding horses to have scaled the heights for Henderson.
He added: "All I can say - you very lucky little boys if you can have one horse as good as Sprinter (Sacre), because they only come round once in a lifetime - and literally within six months of him going, this new thing appeared. Nobody can be as lucky as we are to have experienced two horses like that."
De Boinville told ITV Racing: "That's the first time he's made the running for a long time, and he could have done with a bit of a lead. There was no point getting stuck in behind anything. The record is there for the taking so it was worth going.
"Everyone has had a go at him but there's nothing we'd be afraid of at Cheltenham. He's such an intelligent animal, he can measure his fences up perfectly."
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