Joe Tizzard Aintree Day two runners blog: 'He loved these fences in last year's national'

Ahead of Saturday's huge Grand National race, Coral ambassador and leading trainer Joe Tizzard shares his latest blog, previewing his runners on day two of Aintree.

The Grand National meeting is one we’ve had plenty of success at as a yard over the years, and while we’ll only have the three runners here this year, all on Friday, we’re bringing three we think can do themselves justice. It’s a great meeting to be involved in, I used to love riding here, and it’s no different as a trainer, the racing is top class, it’s important, but everyone is just a bit more relaxed than Cheltenham, and the city and people of Liverpool make it even more fun.

The course does a terrific job in producing safe ground, the dry forecast means they’ve been able to water with confidence, and decent, spring ground will suit all three of ours.

We’re rolling the dice a little bit with The Changing Man, he’s in the last month of being a novice but he’s got loads of experience over fences, and has run consistently well all year in some big handicaps. I appreciate he’s officially rated the lowest of the eight, but we wanted to give him a chance at a Grade One while we could.  

 There are no stamina doubts about him, which isn’t the case with all of these, so we’ll probably look to make it a decent gallop, and see how the jumping of the others holds up. He’s come out of Cheltenham really well, and we’re really looking forward to running him.

This fellow ran a lovely race for a long, long way in last year’s National, before his stamina gave out, and after that, so many people said to me, imagine him in the Topham, so it has been a target for a while. He’s been running in Veterans’ races this season without much joy, but he’s not been off a mark this low over fences for a while.

 If he takes to the fences as he did in the National, he’s capable of getting into a nice rhythm, and he could surprise a few people. Over this shorter trip I’d have no problem with him getting out in front, so if he gets a good start and travels well, let’s see how he goes. The fences might not be the National fences of old, but they still have plenty of height and need jumping, so if he enjoys himself again, he could put in a big performance.

We skipped Cheltenham with Western Knight with one eye on Aintree, his form up to Christmas was decent, with a second in a Grade Two at Cheltenham and two wins. I’m happy to put a line through his Doncaster run in January, we’ve had a smooth run with him since, and I can see him running in the first half dozen here at least. 

Whether you're looking for insights into the race's favourites, or even a look at some of the wackiest names competing this year, Coral has you covered with heaps of content between now and Saturday's Grand National.

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