WHILE Native River is undoubtedly Colin Tizzard's number one hope, he has an admirable second string to his bow in Thistlecrack - an impressive winner of the 2016 King George VI Chase, who has had his problems since.

Now a 10-year-old, Thistlecrack was forced to bypass an intended run in last month's Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby because of the quick ground, but Tizzard expects him to take his chance - with the going currently reported to be good to soft.

He said: "He will run on 'good to soft' good, but it was quicker than that at Wetherby. Last season it wasn't his tendon that was a problem - it was a stress fracture. If the ground stays as it is, we have no problems with both of them.

"He would have had no penalties at Wetherby. It was a good little race, and we didn't have a Cue Card for it this season, so it seemed right for him to go for it - and had it been a fraction softer, he would have.

"He is getting older, and this is probably his last season to be at the top of his game, so we need to get him out into these big races as often as possible.

"Hopefully we will do (get him to the Gold Cup) - but it has been frustrating, especially after he won the King George because we were so excited about running him in it. We still think we have got one more chance with him.

"There is not a plan B. We are never set in stone with anything, but we will do right in what the horse is telling us.

"We are really pleased with where we have got him and are looking forward to running him on Saturday - but if he is not competitive then we will have to re-jiggle and look elsewhere."

Both horses geared up for the Grade One feature with a racecourse gallop together at Exeter last week, and Tizzard was more than satisfied with how that worked out.

He added: "They both went down to Exeter last Wednesday - we just had an away day. We didn't want to gallop them particularly hard, because we can do that at home. We just wanted to take them for an away day to get their blood up and let them enjoy themselves.

"They had a two-mile gallop, and Tom (Scudamore on Thistlecrack) and Dicky (Richard Johnson on Native River) had a chance to sit on them both again. They went a bit quicker up the straight.

"Native River had a school on Sunday morning over fences and he schooled absolutely beautifully. We will just do standard stuff on the way up to the race."

Might Bite is the even-money favourite with the sponsors after nine horses were left in the race at Monday's confirmation stage.