Joe Tizzard “very excited about” Vision Des Flos today

3.25 Chepstow – Theatrical Star

Theatrical Star is a great old boy. He finds it hard to win now but he is so consistent and has been placed in a few of these veteran chases.

He’s not getting any younger and although he has a chance there are normally one or two that are better handicapped than him.

4.35 Chepstow – Sizing Granite and Ultragold

We finally got to the bottom of Sizing Granite at Punchestown last year. When the Alan Potts horses came to us last year he had the biggest reputation of the lot, and it was great to see him bounce back to form in Ireland.

His coat looks absolutely superb at the moment which it didn’t this time last year, so I’m hoping he’s in the same vein of form as he was at the end of the season and that he can progress again. He’s at the top of the weights, and this would put him into graded company if he can run well.

We were running out of options of where to run Ultragold really. We are keen to take him back to Aintree over the big fences, in either the Becher Chase or the Grand Sefton, so we’ve just decided to run him while the ground is suitable. He never fails to disappoint. It was remarkable run in the Topham. He’s a progressive chap.

5.10 Chepstow – Shillingsworth

Shillingsworth was quite green in his bumper last year. We have been schooling him up for hurdles but we schooled him the other day and he was having a good look so we felt that it would do him good to have another run in a bumper. He wants more of a trip than in a bumper but he should benefit from the run to take the greenness out of him and sharpen him up.

5.40 Chepstow – The Russian Doyen

The Russian Doyen is a horse we like. We paid decent money for him. He works nicely. We ran out of time to run him last season. He had a racecourse gallop at Wincanton and ran well but then we couldn’t get him on the track because the ground went for him. So he had the advantage of being in all last season. He’s a nice horse and we’re expecting a big run from him.

Joe