Joe Tizzard “Fiddlerontheroof is the best on ratings and I hope he’ll win”

The Coral ambassador previews Friday’s runners from the Tizzard yard

Lostintranslation didn’t seem to handle the very heavy ground at Haydock. There is nothing else that came to light. He’s back, he’s well, he’s been cantering for the last couple of days. Sometimes horses can’t cope with those types of conditions.

Last year we thought it was going to be wetter than it actually was, and Robbie was really excited when it turned out decent ground. Robbie has said for a couple of seasons that he thinks he’ll be a better horse on better ground. Dad and I took the view that he’s a big strong horse so should be able to cope with testing ground but he just doesn’t seem to be able to.

He hasn’t got a lot of options so we were never going to pull him out because of the ground as where else would we go. He’s had a run now, so that will make sure he’ll strip fit at Kempton and we’ll go from there.

War Lord winning was great. He can handle those testing conditions. He’s a young horse that’s progressing. The handicapper has moved him up to 138 so we are looking at where we can run him next, but he’s a lovely progressive young horse.

13.50 Newbury – Fiddlerontheroof

The race has cut up to just three runners which isn’t bad for us. He progressed nicely from his first run to win at Exeter last time. That was good ground that day so he’ll love the conditions at Newbury. It will have done him a lot of good to have a real race last time, where they got him at it, and he jumped well under pressure. On the ratings he’s the best of the three horses and we’ll ride him aggressively and the 2m 4f should really suit him. I hope he’ll win.

15.00 Newbury – Vision De Flos

This is probably the race of the season. It looks incredibly hot. We just decided with our horse that he’s not a natural jumper, and he was competitive in top company in staying hurdles, so we’ll go that route. But this is basically a Stayers Hurdle in November, so he’s got a bit to find with a couple. He has had two runs so he’s got fitness on his side. He’s a highly rated hurdler, and if he can reproduce the form that he showed at Punchestown the season before last then he can run a big race.

Joe