Joe Tizzard: “The rain will play to Elegant Escape’s strengths”
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Aintree Festival insight from the Tizzard yard
Thursday – Aintree
He’s got a bit to find on all known form but this is the company he is racing in now and he will definitely like the rain that has come in the last couple of days. That will play to his strengths.
He looks a bit better in his coat than perhaps he did before the Gold Cup and we are looking forward to running him. We are fully aware though that he needs to step up again.
He ran a great race in the Gold Cup and was only one place behind Clan Des Obeaux who’s favourite for this race. Elegant Escape is a good horse, and he’s had one hell of a season, and is one of our better horses.
We made the decision not to go for the Grand National straightaway after the Gold Cup as he had had a hard enough race there.
His owner, Jon Romans, is more than happy to have a go at it with Elegant Escape but would rather wait another year as he’s still a young horse.
We are running him over the minimum here, having stepped him up to three miles last time, but he’s not slow. We started him off over two miles and he has ability and he’s got no weight.
He will be competitive in this. They’ll need to stay well in this race as it’s very competitive and they’ll go a hell of a gallop. We think he’s a two and a half miler really and he’ll need to be tomorrow.
Main runners Friday & Saturday
Mildmay Chase – Lostintranslation
He ran a blinder at Cheltenham over two and a half miles but we have been waiting to step him up in trip for some time now.
He will be Gold Cup bound next year so we are looking forward to taking on Topofthegame. We are really looking forward to seeing him over this trip. Dad was keen to go before but we just felt the RSA might have been a step too far at this point in his career.
This race feels the right time to step him up in trip and we’re excited about him.
He’s in really good form and it’s not been an easy decision to go for the Grand National rather than the Topham.
However we came to the conclusion that if we think he is capable of winning the Topham again, which we do, then it doesn’t put him far away in the Grand National.
It’s the biggest race of the year and he’s got outstanding form around the track. He’s eleven years old and his whole season has been geared towards it so he deserves to take his chance.
Joe
