Joe Tizzard Saturday runners blog: 'He should have a great chance'

Leading trainer Joe Tizzard shares his latest Coral blog previewing his runners ahead of a huge weekend of racing at Ascot and Wincanton.

We had a quiet spell with the horses just after Christmas, so we backed off them, let them get freshened up, and now we seem to reaping the rewards for that, as they’ve been in great form recently, so much so that I almost wish it was Cheltenham week now! 

Talking of Cheltenham, it’s a week I absolutely love, but equally, I have to be realistic, and accept that right now we have a lovely group of younger horses, so we may not have many runners there this year, maybe six or seven, but looking ahead, in the next three to four years, hopefully these young horses now are our Festival horses to come.

There’s still plenty of good racing outside of Cheltenham, and this is a big weekend for us. Striking A Pose was possibly just a bit soft over fences, he didn’t really take to them as we’d hoped, so we’re back over hurdles again here. He’s capable of running well in a race like this, but there is a chance the hustle and bustle of a big field will be too much for him.  

I’ve popped the blinkers on him which will hopefully help him deal with the big field, he’s the sort of horse who when he isn’t enjoying himself, doesn’t always try his best, but if he takes to it, gets a bit of space, and is enjoying it, he could run a decent race. And if he doesn’t put it all in, he’ll get dropped a few pounds by the handicapper.

This is a race we’ve won with Copperhead and Oscar Elite in the past, I left it late to declare this fellow, but when I saw it was a small field, I was happy to let him take his chance. He’s still a novice, who has run so well in big handicaps this season, finishing second on three occasions, he really deserves to get his head in front. That said, we haven't been disappointed with those runs, he's picked up plenty of prize money and given us some big days out. 

He's not quite right at the weights with a couple of these but that's just the conditions of this race and it wasn't a big enough factor to stop us running here. He's right on the cusp of being a horse for the Ultima at the Festival, but I didn't want to wait a month for that only for him to then be balloted out, and then we’ve missed the opportunity of running for a good pot here.

He stays and jumps well, which Copperhead and Oscar Elite both did, and in fact we made a similarly late decision to run Oscar Elite the year he won this, so hopefully lightning can strike twice! If The Changing Man of this season turns up, he's definitely got a chance.