Joe Tizzard: “Scarface keeps running consistently well”

Trainer and Coral ambassador Joe Tizzard discusses his two runners at Cheltenham on Wednesday.

Cheltenham 2.05 – Scarface

It’s another important week for us, with two days back at Cheltenham and then two days at Ayr for their big Coral Scottish Grand National meeting. Scarface has been consistent all season, winning his first two starts, and he ran another nice race to finish third at Kempton on his most recent run.

He’ll get this trip well around this course, and he’ll love the ground, so I can see him running another nice race. We’ll then turn him out for the summer, and really look forward to going novice chasing with him in the autumn.

Cheltenham 2.40 – Copperhead

This has attracted a big field so there’s plenty of opposition here for Copperhead, but he’s not run in a race rated 0–125 for a long while, so the handicapper is perhaps making his life a bit easier. I was really pleased with his last run, at Exeter, as he travelled well and jumped great. We thought he’d get the 3m 6f trip that day, but perhaps he didn’t, as he was still leading turning in but then faded.

This is a drop in grade for him, and being back over the slightly shorter trip will suit him.  Whether or not he can build on that last run enough to beat this big field I don’t know, but he’ll be eligible for veterans’ races from next year, and then I’ve no doubt he’ll be winning again in time.