AMY Murphy is confident Kalashnikov will fire in Friday’s rearranged Peterborough Chase.
The big race has been moved to Cheltenham after flooding forced Huntingdon to abandon their card on Sunday.
Newmarket-based Murphy reckons the switch from a right-handed to a left-handed course is a big boost to Grade 1 winner Kalashnikov.
And he shaped with plenty of promise on his comeback in a three-mile hurdle race at Haydock last month.
Murphy told Sun Racing: “I was delighted with his run at Haydock, he ran a lot better than it looks on paper.
“It was probably a combination of getting tired on his first run for nine months and not quite staying three miles in horrid ground which got him beat.
“There weren’t any left-handed options over two and a half miles for him in the early part of the season, so we thought we’d have a punt at three miles.
“So as soon as this race switched to Cheltenham it was great for us. He wouldn’t have run at Huntingdon, he is just a much better horse going left-handed.”
William Hill make the seven-year-old an 8-1 shot for the Peterborough Chase, with Paul Nicholls’ Master Tommytucker the 4-1 jolly.
Kalashnikov’s pipe-opener at Haydock was his first run since he finished fifth behind Altior at Newbury in February – after which he was found to have bled.
But Murphy, who rides her stable star on the gallops each morning, is hoping that issue is behind him.
She said: “He didn’t bleed at Haydock which was the main thing. Please God it’s a thing of the past now.
“If he was going to bleed it probably would have been then under those conditions. We have done everything we possibly can to help him.
“He still looks and feels as good as ever. I couldn’t be happier with him and he did a lovely piece of work on Tuesday morning.
“It’ll be a competitive race but on his best form he would be bang there.
“He hasn’t won around Cheltenham before, but he has gone very close and he deserves a change of luck.”
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