Joe Tizzard Saturday runners blog: 'This is a nice prize pot for these horses'

Joe Tizzard previews his one runner at Warwick amid weather doubts on Saturday, January 10, 2026. The Coral ambassador also gives his thoughts on the current cold spell and his experiences of skiing as a jockey.

• Sea Warrior - Warwick - 2.25 race odds

Warwick 2.25 – Sea Warrior

Sea Warrior clipped heels and went down at Wincanton last month, but he was absolutely fine after that, and this is a nice £20,000 prize pot for these 0 – 110 rated horses, so we’re keen to get him back out. That was only his fourth run, so he’s less exposed than some of these, and I think he’s capable of being competitive in what is a big field as we all look to take the opportunities available.

Thoughts on the current cold snap

We hope Warwick gets the all clear, but if not we’ll make a plan B for Sea Warrior.  I’m not too concerned by the current cold spell, we’re always going to get it at some stage, and actually it’s come at a relatively quiet time of the season. Missing the big meetings over Christmas would have been much more frustrating, but they all took place, and as a yard, we’re naturally quieter for a couple of weeks, so I’m fairly relaxed about it.

We do actually need some rain in some parts, Taunton had to water this week for example, which seems bonkers, but that’s the case, so any rainfall will help, and when temperatures rise we’ll have some nice ground to run on.

I know Olly Murphy has spoken this week about there needing to be greater flexibility to reschedule meetings and big races if they are lost, as they do in Ireland.  I know where Olly is coming from, but one issue is we race so much more here compared to Ireland, there they have blank days, but we don’t, so simply adding in extra fixtures isn’t straightforward.

In fairness, they also do try to reschedule big races where possible, we won a rearranged Clarence House Chase at Cheltenham with Elixir De Nutz, and last season’s Veterans’ final was moved twice, so it does happen, and I’m sure we’ll see a few novice chases added to the schedule for example, but ultimately, hopefully we’re only talking about a week of disruption, and we’ll soon catch up.

As far as we’ve been coping, the team here have done a great job, and we’ve kept the horses working every day, even when it dropped to minus six, we kept the wood chip gallop going. We don’t want any snow, as that would be a problem, but so far every horse has at least cantered daily, so we’re not losing anything fitness-wise.

Jump jockeys and skiing

After a quiet few days with no jumping, you may have seen quite a few of the jockeys head off to the slopes. I don't know what it is with jockeys and skiing, I think basically it's a case of the day job isn't dangerous enough so we need that extra fix of adrenaline!

I used to go when I was riding, if there were a few days with no racing, we’d head off, so it was always very impromptu, whereas now as a trainer I can at least book it in advance. One thing I did like about it, and I can safely say this now, was I could basically eat and drink as much as I wanted, ski hard all day, and I wouldn't put any weight on!

I would also say from my experience of skiing with fellow jocks, we don't hold back, but then what else would you expect as let's face it you've got to be a bit of a lunatic to be a jockey! Joking apart, it may seem strange that these guys are going skiing in the middle of the season, but honestly, just as when you're riding, you don’t think about getting injured, and the break from racing, even for just a few days, can do you the world of good.

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