Joe Tizzard: “Grand Vision is one of our best chances of the week”

1.45 Aintree – Finian’s Oscar

He ran well enough at Cheltenham. He came there three out and we got very excited, and yet no sooner than he looked threatening his run stopped. So that was disappointing. I wouldn’t have minded better ground for him here, but he schooled really nicely yesterday morning and he does look a million dollars.

He’s a very good horse who is just having one of those years, a kind of transformation year. He did it all on raw ability last year and this year it hasn’t quite happened for him but he’s slowly becoming a man. He’s a very talented horse and at some stage it’s going to all click again. He certainly shouldn’t be written off.

2.20 Aintree – Padleyourowncanoe

We are throwing him in the deep end here. We had thought about going for a handicap but we’ve decided to pitch him in here. He’s a four year old that absolutely loves this ground, where plenty of that age group don’t handle it. He also gets two and a half miles well so we’ll ride him really positively. It’s his last chance to run in a juvenile so we thought why not run him in a Grade 1. He’s not that far off, and if he gets beat then so what.

The owners have had a lovely season with him. They had a great day out when they finished fourth at Cheltenham and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he got them in the Winner’s Enclosure again today. They are over the moon to have a horse that’s competing in these races when twelve months ago he was rated in the mid-50s on the Flat.

2.50 Aintree – Sizing Codelco

We thought the race might cut up a bit more than it did, and he’s also a good ground horse. However he’s a gross horse that we just cannot get fit at home and if anything else this race will just put him right for the Coral Scottish Grand National next week when hopefully the ground will be a bit better. That said we’ve never been afraid of running our horses in big races, and there are horses in this race that had tough races at Cheltenham and might not have recovered so you never know. You only need a couple to run below par and you are into decent prize money if you win 4^th or 5^th.