Joe Tizzard “Robinsfirth is ready and should have a good chance”

New Year’s Day Runners:

12.15 Cheltenham – Darlac

It’s a graded race and ultra-competitive as you’d expect but Darlac has certainly not shown himself up in his last couple of runs in Grade 2s. He’s a good, strong horse. This race will take some winning but we are expecting him to run his race

12.50 Cheltenham – Robinsfirth

He’s been off since he won at Cheltenham last year, so he missed the second half of that season. He’s been back in training for a long time and been aiming at this for a while. He’s a very capable horse on his day. He’s a big horse so he’s entitled to improve a fraction but he’s ready and hopefully he should have a good chance.

1.25 Cheltenham – Lostintranslation

His form is looking really good now but he can’t afford to make a mistake like he made at Newbury last time. He has schooled lovely since then a couple of times. This is a good looking race but we think he’s up to this class and we want to get some Cheltenham experience into him. 

At Newbury he made that big mistake but he found a leg, which is important, and he then jumped the next two carefully. I don’t think he’s the sort of horse that would necessarily do it twice. He’s been immaculate jumping since at home. I think it was just a novicey mistake at the point they started to get racing. He’s in good form, and whilst it’s a wide-open race he deserves to be in it.

3.10 Cheltenham – Cyrus Darius

He disappointed at Ascot just before Christmas. Nothing came to light at all after that so we just wanted to get another run into him, stick a tongue strap on him, and see how well he can run. We may well go chasing soon with him.

12.40 Exeter – Carrick Roads

He ran well the first time round Exeter and then disappointed last time for no particular reason. If he runs back to his Exeter form then he’ll be in the shake-up. He’s a nice young horse that we are learning about all the time.

1.50 Exeter – Helford River

He’s a nice young horse, that’s learning his job. This hurdles run will help us learn a bit more about him.

2.25 Exeter – Wizards Bridge

He’s been a good servant. He’s paying the price for having a really good season last year in terms of his handicap mark. Exeter suits him and we probably ran him at Wincanton too soon after his race at Fontwell. He’s been freshened up for this and it looks the right race.

3.00 Exeter – White Moon

This race has cut right up. It’s the easiest race he’s run in for a while and I imagine he’ll be a short priced favourite. He deserves to be. It was a bit of a flat run last time but he had taken a heavy fall the time before. He’s certainly sharpened up at home and looks magnificent. He jumped superbly when he schooled on Friday. This will hopefully be a confidence booster for him.

3.35 Exeter – Sizing Brisbane

He’s been off for a long time. He ran well at Lingfield for a long way on really heavy ground. He’s sharp enough for the race. He has very few miles on the clock and I think there’s a bit of ability there. 2m3f around Exeter should be perfect for him and we are expecting him to run a nice race.

2018 Review and Look Ahead to 2019

It was a good year. We had a great end to the 2017/18 season winning the Gold Cup last March, and we’ve had a brilliant start to this season. We’ve passed the £1million prize money mark, we’ve won a Ladbrokes Trophy, we’ve won a Coral Welsh Grand National, and we’ve been second and third in both of the big Gold Cup trials, so it’s been one hell of a year. The yard has got bigger at home so it’s all going well, and hopefully we’re on an upward curve still as well.

We don’t really set goals but we are looking forward to getting Fox Norton back on the track. He hasn’t been on the track since Boxing Day last year.  The cows have gone now, so there’s a lot more time being aimed towards the racing side, so we are really focused on making more progress this season and then go buying more nice horses in the spring and keep the ball rolling.

Joe