Joe Tizzard Saturday runners blog: 'He'll skip off this decent surface'

Joe Tizzard shares his latest exclusive blog with Coral, previewing his runners at Startford whilst also giving his thoughts on Aintree and the Grand National next week.

We’ve declared two for this Stratford meeting, but with Pedley Wood, I will walk the course first just to make sure the ground is OK for him. I thought last year he wanted good ground but he’s won a couple on soft ground this year, and I don’t want to take any chances with him at this stage of the season. 

He was just never travelling comfortably at Wincanton last time, nothing came to light after that race so we’ll just put a line through it. He improved with his three runs prior to that, so as long as I’m happy with the ground, he could run a nice race.

Siam Park is a nice, light-framed type, so he’ll skip off a decent surface, so no ground concerns with him. I was delighted to see him finally get his head in front last time, jumping a fence has taught him to settle, he was much too keen over hurdles, and hopefully now the penny has dropped. 

 He gets in here off a nice low mark, and I think going left-handed around here will really suit him, so he comes here with a decent chance of following up that Taunton win.

We have entered The Changing Man in the Coral Scottish Grand National, and I noticed he was made second favourite, but while I’m not ruling it out, we’re more likely to run him in the three miles novice race at Aintree on Friday. We can always go four miles with him next year, but this is his last month as a novice, and we’ll probably stick with that. 

 Western General could go on the Saturday, and Eldorado Allen will run in the Topham, he ran well for a long way in the National last year, and if he takes to the fences as well again, he could surprise a few people. Rightsotom, a horse with plenty of ability when he turns up, will have a couple of entries too, so we’ll keep you updated here next week. 

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