Five declared for rescheduled Peterborough
Just five horses have been declared for the rescheduled Levy Board Peterborough Chase at Exeter on Thursday.
Last Updated: 19/12/12 11:23am
The prestigious Grade Two contest was saved by the British Horseracing Authority following the abandonment of last week's Huntingdon fixture, but is still not guaranteed to go ahead with heavy rain threatening Exeter's meeting with an 8am precautionary inspection called.
Ultra-testing conditions look likely which appears to have prompted many to look elsewhere, leading to a small field.
Champion trainer Paul Nicholls is, however, looking forward to saddling Ghizao if the meeting does beat the weather.
He was last seen finishing third in the Amlin 1965 Chase at Ascot.
"He's a horse who did well to come back from a near-fatal injury last year and he's done really well this season," Nicholls told Betfair.
"He ran really nicely when he won at Kempton first time up and then he was third behind Captain Chris at Ascot.
"He'll run on Thursday if it's on and if he doesn't go there, he'll probably go for a good handicap on New Year's Day at Cheltenham.
"I'm sure he's going to win a nice race soon."
Colin Tizzard saddles fine his staying chaser Hey Big Spender, while Wishfull Thinking aims to build on last month's Cheltenham win for Philip Hobbs.
The line-up is completed by Dan Breen and Bob Buckler's veteran The Sawyer.Tizzard is confident of a big run from Hey Big Spender, with the ground likely to play to his strengths.
"When he was running in novice hurdles, once we switched him from good to soft to heavy ground he was a stone better horse," said Tizzard.
"Since he went over fences we haven't had many chances to run him in proper heavy ground yet, so we're really looking forward to tomorrow.
"He wouldn't have run in the race at Huntingdon as you need a different type of horse round there, but two and a half miles on heavy ground at Exeter is an ideal place to start with him.
"He obviously stays well - I'm sure he'd stay four miles - but he has enough pace to lay up with them over two and a half on heavy, so we'll see what happens.
"He had the setback earlier in the year but he's been back in since September 1, his work has been good and he's ready to start back."