Talking Horses: Colin Tizzard's Cheltenham team plus Friday tips

Colin Tizzard’s contenders for the Cheltenham Festival

Colin Tizzard was the latest trainer to open his yard to the media yesterday ahead of next month’s Festival at Cheltenham and, while much of the attention will be on Native River and Cue Card, the market-leaders for the Gold Cup on 17 March, he will have leading contenders for Grade Ones and handicaps throughout the four days. Here’s what he had to say about his main contenders.

Cue Card
It was amazing the reception he got for winning at Ascot. He’s 11 years old and he should have won but he jumped better, right back to his very best, he was fluid and came away when he wanted and sauntered home. If he was a seven-year-old you’d say that he was just approaching his peak. I didn’t need to watch [last year’s Gold Cup] more than twice. The competition is to jump the fences and gallop three miles two and he didn’t. It’s a big occasion for all of us and hopefully he won’t be in that position again. Paddy [Brennan, jockey] came up with the idea to go to Ascot. He said two and a half miles around there would get his jumping slick and it’s worked out a treat, it was a lovely prep race for him. He started off as a champion bumper horse and he’s still winning Grade Ones at 11, so he’s done everything bar win a GC. It was his own making really that he fell last year but there’s everything to play for. I wasn’t that disappointed last year. The horse came back and so we’ve got another chance, and we actually thought the chance was going or gone, but he’s got equally as good a chance this year as last year.

Native River
Native River’s got it all. He was in the four-miler last year and came out a few weeks later and won a Grade One around Aintree. That’s the constitution of these horses, they can take it, that’s why they are what they are. If you get a horse coughing, a weak one will cough for three weeks, Cue Card will cough once, Native River once, and that’s it, gone. That’s what they are, healthy and fit, and probably why they end up being as good as they are. He can handle any ground that comes up, he jumps and he stays, and we saw something last week [at Newbury] that we didn’t know he had. We don’t need to go on, six-out, and then hold on like in the Hennessy and Welsh National, let’s just ride him because he’s a bit faster than we think. He was beating a 154 horse [Le Mercurey] at Newbury but that’s a good horse. He’ll take a lot of beating.

Finian’s Oscar
I’m sure if I said he was going to the Supreme [over two miles], he’d shorten up. Quite a lot of Champion Hurdle winners have run in the Neptune in the past and gone back to the Champion Hurdle, you can’t go there thinking it will be slower horses. He’s a brother to [2012 Champion Chase winner] Finan’s Rainbow and he was a two-miler. It’s just that he came through the point-to-point ranks and you feel as though he’s a two and a half miler. He doesn’t stop and they tell me the last half of the [Neptune] is just as fast as the Supreme.

Alary
He was better at Exeter [last time], but you never know with these French horses. He might be acclimatising. He looked as though he would be a three and a half miler in heavy ground, but I think he’s a two and a half miler. I saw him on the gallops this morning and he’s beautiful now. When he first came, he wasn’t as healthy as he could have been. I don’t think it was French bugs, I think he caught ours and that’s why he flattened out first time. I think he’s a live player. He’s a man of a horse, we jumped him this week and he never worried about a fall, he arched his back and landed 15 feet the other side. He’s a good horse.

Fox Norton
He tried to give Altior 5lb [at Newbury this month], which was an impossible task anyway, but he ran a good second and didn’t jump very well. He came back a bit stiff behind and I think he was feeling that in the race. All in all, he’s a good horse, he’s fine now and [his former trainer] Neil Mulholland says he’ll like spring ground and a flat-out two miles. I was leaning towards the Ryanair, as he took the whole of the Arkle trip last year to get to third, so we’re leaving that option open a little bit. Douvan [hot favourite for the Champion Chase], he does look a machine, but you shouldn’t be afraid of one. It will be left to the five-day stage, I’d say.

Royal Vacation
He started off on 127 at the beginning of the year and we were chuffed as nuts when he was going to be second to Might Bite [in the Kauto Star, which he won when Might Bite fell at the last]. Then he came out at Cheltenham over two and a half miles and won by 15 or 20 lengths. He’s done nothing wrong and Paddy [Brennan] was saying, you’ve got to go for the RSA and not the National Hunt Chase. What he’s got in his favour is we can run him right on the pace, knowing he would stay four miles, so he won’t have to sit in the bunch and get involved in all the jumping issues that will occur in an RSA. He can be really positive, which gives him a chance.

Theatre Guide
He’s going for the race at Kempton on Saturday [BetBright Chase] that he won last year. When I entered five [in the Gold Cup], I thought there might only be 10 in the race, but there could be 15 now and we don’t know who’s going to run. If he wins well [on Saturday], I’m sure he’ll go there, he’s won at Cheltenham this year staying on, and horses with his rating have run big races in the Gold Cup before.

West Approach
He’s in the Stayers’ Hurdle and the Albert Bartlett, he’s second favourite there and you’d have thought a novice would go the novice route. But John and Heather [Snook, owners] have never been afraid of campaigning at the highest level and we know pretty well what those horses [in the Stayers’ Hurdle] are. In a novice, there could be some real crackers in that, so I don’t think one race is much harder than the other. If the favourite [Unowhatimeanharry] came out, I know we’d go to the Stayers’ Hurdle. It’s not been ruled out at all. The horse is improving and doesn’t have to find much to be a big player in the Stayers’ Hurdle. It’s 50-50, I’d say.

Sizing Codelco
He finished behind Top Notch at level weights in a graduation chase earlier in the season. We ran him over too far a trip last time, we’re dropping back to two miles five and he’s a big strong stayer. He very nearly beat Top Notch, he’s a good strong horse and the Irish boys all thought he was one of the best handicappers. He’s going well at the moment and looks well in his coat, he’d have a nice chance [in the Plate].

Alan Potts’s handicappers:
Sizing Platinum (Grand Annual)
Bally Longford (Ultima, Plate, Kim Muir)
Sizing Tennessee (Close Brothers Novice Handicap Chase)
Mick Thonic (Close Brothers Novice Handicap Chase, Grand Annual)
We have stopped [running these] purposely since Christmas to go to Cheltenham, there’s six or eight of them rated in the 140s and 150s which we haven’t run, we just gave them a break. We want our best chances at Cheltenham, they’ll get in the race, they ran three times in the autumn and they’ll go there and be at their best.

Today’s bets bets, by Greg Wood

Both Warwick and Exeter have some competitive and valuable races on their cards, including the Devon National Handicap Chase over three-and-three-quarter miles at the latter track.

Abracadabra Sivola (3.50) could be the answer here, following his return to winning form at Taunton earlier this month. Tom Scudamore had him in front some way out there and, while he is up 5lb in the weights as a result of his two-and-a-half length success, he could well improve for this marathon trip and has been very competitive off higher marks over hurdles in the past. He’s 13-2.

Wild West Wind (3.15) must also go well on the same card, while, at Warwick, Early Du Lemo (2.30) ran much better than the distance he was beaten might imply on his British debut at Cheltenham last time out.

There are some interesting bets to be had on the Flat cards too, as Auric Goldfinger (3.25) still looks to be on a very fair mark in the mile handicap at Lingfield, having been giving too much to do at the same track last time out. Honiara (4.00) is closely matched with favourite, Take The Helm, on their form behind Make Music in January, and makes slightly more appeal today at the prices. He’s 15-2.

Greg Wood’s tips for Friday

Exeter

2.10 Little Miss Poet 2.45 Shaama Grise 3.15 Wild West Wind 3.50 Abracadabra Sivola 4.25 Any Drama 4.55 Obistar 5.25 Goonjim

Lingfield Park

2.20 The Ginger Berry 2.55 Casablanca 3.25 Auric Goldfinger (nap) 4.00 Honiara (nb) 4.35 Bartholomew J 5.05 Street Jazz

Warwick

2.00 Coo Star Sivola 2.30 Early Du Lemo 3.05 Knight Ofthe Realm 3.35 Templehills 4.10 Act Now 4.45 Allchilledout 5.15 Dame Rose

Wolverhampton

5.45 Pick Of Any 6.15 Tred Softly 6.45 Dandilion 7.15 Gilgamesh 7.45 Lord Cooper 8.15 Lostock