Joe Tizzard New Year's Day runners blog: 'We can ride him nice and positively'

Joe Tizzard has five runners at Cheltenham, Windsor and Exeter on New Year's Day. The Coral ambassador previews them all in his latest blog.

• Walk Tall - Cheltenham - 12.15 race odds

• Bobbi With An I - Windsor - 12.59 race odds

• Moonlight Artist - Exeter - 2.20 race odds

• Hartington - Windsor - 2.50 race odds

• Valiant Soldier - Exeter - 4.00 race odds

Cheltenham 12.15 – Walk Tall

2026 starts for us at Cheltenham, and of course all roads lead back here for the Festival in a couple of months.  Whether Walk Tall will be coming back here in March remains to be seen, but I do know he is a lovely horse for the future, and very much a chaser in the making.

We are running him again fairly quickly, but he’s in good form at home and has improved from run to run this season.  This is a maiden, and if there are a few too good for him in here then at least he’ll get his handicap mark for his three runs and then we’ll be off and running, but mainly I’m looking forward to next year when he jumps a fence.

Windsor 12.59 – Bobbi With An I

Bobbi With An I has run well in her three starts this season without winning, finishing second at Wincanton last time, when she got closer to the horse [Apples Moon] who’d beaten her at Exeter first time up. That was a good solid run, and this 2 ½ miles trip suits her, so off a mark I think is about right for her, I think she should be competitive here.

Exeter 2.20 – Moonlight Artist

Moonlight Artist is a moderate horse, but he has won around here, and the race has split into two divisions, so we had to take our chance.  Ben Bromley can claim five pounds off of him, which will help, and I don’t this current mark is unfair, but he is a horse with limitations.

Windsor 2.50 – Hartington

Hartington is dropping back in trip here from three miles at Haydock last time, he ran well that day to finish second but I’m keen to get another run into him ahead of a £100,000 race at Sandown at the end of the month, and timing-wise this works well, and it also carries a decent prize pot of its own.

It might be therefore that this trip is a little on the sharp side for him, but he finished second in a race here last year, and he’s in the form of his life, so we can ride him quite aggressively and be positive on him, and I don’t think it’s the deepest field for the money.

Exeter 4.00 – Valiant Soldier

This is a nice young son of Soldier Of Fortune who’s having his first run in a Bumper.  He’s been a bit weak and taken time to come to himself, but he’s ready to run now. We’ll learn plenty about him here, and he’ll improve no end for the experience.

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