Nicky Henderson won his eighth Fitzdares Club Loves The Peterborough Chase as Mister Fisher produced a gallant display under Nico de Boinville at Cheltenham.
In a race of changing complexions, Mister Fisher rallied gamely after Kalashnikov looked set to run him down when jumping upsides at the final fence, the 9/2 winner pulling out extra on the stiff run-in to hand Henderson a welcome tonic after coming under fierce criticism in the last week following his decision to withdraw Altior from Saturday's Tingle Creek.
Glen Forsa ensured there was no hiding place as he produced a series of terrific jumps in front, but he had cried enough when Dolos cruised into the lead just as Fanion D'estruval crashed out when himself seemingly full of running.
Dolos soon found his petrol tank running on empty, though, as Mister Fisher made his move, while the heavily-backed Kalashnikov started to warm to his task with a quick leap at the last seemingly paving the way for him to finally get his head back in front.
To his credit, Mister Fisher found plenty when challenged as de Boinville produced a power-packed finish in the saddle and the triumphant duo had pulled a length and three quarters clear at the line.
Clondaw Castle ran well back in third but Top Notch was never travelling and could only finishing sixth after a ragged round of jumping on ground that didn't appear to suit.
🏆 Mister Fisher (9/2) wins the Peterborough Chase!
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) December 11, 2020
🎂 A day after his trainer @sevenbarrows' birthday, the 6yo bounces back to top form with a timely gift.
He digs in close home to fend off Kalashnikov...pic.twitter.com/dTNL1N2ck3
Henderson said: “That was good. It was a good race.
“When he ran in the Paddy Power, I think it was combination of his first run and very soft ground. This has turned out be harder work than I thought and softer than I hoped for. I’m not going to start talking about ground again, don’t you worry, that’s off the agenda this weekend!
“Well done everyone for getting this race put on again. This was the right race for him today as he was in the Caspian Caviar Gold Cup (on Saturday), but I think just being able to be up there and having a bit of daylight – he enjoyed it.
“They went a good gallop all the way. He jumped great. He is learning and he is a young horse on the up.
“Nico says the Ryanair is the race for him and I’ll go with that. He doesn’t want to go three miles. He says that is enough, so it looks like the Ryanair road.
“I’m not going to wrap him up and put him away as he will run again, but he will want to be nice and fresh as he wants a spring campaign rather than a winter campaign because of the ground.”
Sky Bet reacted by cutting Mister Fisher into 16/1 for the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Michael Shinners, head of Racing PR at Sky Bet, said: "That was a decent performance from Mister Fisher in what looked a competitive race. We now go 16/1 from 25/1 for the Ryanair Chase."
