Jango Baie will face just three rivals as he bids to give Nicky Henderson a third success in the Listed Huntingdon prize on Thursday.
Henderson, who saddled the high-class Shishkin to land the M1 Agency Sidney Banks Memorial Novices' Hurdle at Huntingdon in 2020, will this year rely on Jango Baie in the Listed feature at the Peterborough track on Thursday.
The Grade 1 Formby Novices' Hurdle winner will face just three rivals in his attempt to remain unbeaten over hurdles and the Seven Barrows handler expects him to appreciate this slight step up in trip.
Henderson said: "We're going two-mile-three with him this time and it's a slight step up (in trip), he was around Aintree over two last time,"
"I thought he was finishing that race very strongly, so I wanted to have a look at him around two and a half just to see. He's in both the Supreme and the Baring Bingham (at the Cheltenham Festival) come March.
"The owner has both Jango Baie and Jingko Blue – and I'll put the wrong horse in a race someday soon – and the other horse won very nicely at Sandown on Saturday."
Although the Nicky Henderson-trained Jango Baie will face just three rivals, a race lacking in depth certainly doesn't look to be lacking in quality, as both Charlie Longsdon's Bugise Seagull and Ben Pauling's Handstands bid to keep their unbeaten record over timber intact.
The Ben Pauling-trained Handstands won doing cartwheels at Newcastle last time and although Pauling sees his horse as a lovely chaser in the making, he's certainly hoping the son of Getaway can make a serious impact in the novice hurdling division this season.
"He's a lovely horse who does everything you ask of him at home but no more," Pauling explained.
"I hope his jumping is sharp enough, but he's certainly a horse that we've got no idea where the bottom is, and we like him a lot really.
"He'll be a fabulous chaser next year, but I think he can be a good hurdler this year as well.
"This is a lovely race; it's cut up in numbers, but the quality is there I suppose, and it'll be interesting to see where we fit amongst these and give us a steer towards where we go in the spring."
Joe Tizzard's Diamond Ri, who displayed promise when runner-up at Exeter on his hurdling bow before going one better in emphatic fashion at Warwick, completes the quartet.
