Dorset handler Colin Tizzard is keen to build on a superb season for his yard by having a crack at the champion Jump trainer’s title next season.
Tizzard did not have a winner at the Cheltenham Festival but saddled a phenomenal five winners at last week’s Randox Health Grand National Festival, which included the impressive victories of Fox Norton and Finian’s Oscar.
Thus, Tizzard is keen to regroup and have a go at winning the trainer’s title, which this year has seen a great battle between Nicky Henderson and Paul Nicholls, with the former leading the title race.
Tizzard has Cue Card, Native River and also Thistlecrack to fire at a host of staying chase Grade One’s next year whilst Alan & Ann Potts have also given Tizzard the world’s most expensive jump horse to train, who sold for £480,000 earlier this season.
With a young team of horses blended with more experienced campaigners, he looks set to have a strong team for next season.
Regarding a title challenge, Tizzard told the Racing Post:
The main thing for us all will be maintaining the stable’s ascendancy into next season. It’s important and we’ll be doing everything we can to better what we achieved this season – I think I’m good for a few more years yet.
We’re not far short of getting £2m in prize-money and 60 winners on the board and that’s a good season whichever way you look at it, as we’ll finish third in the table and we’d all be very happy with that.
As things stand we have no chance of getting anywhere near Nicky Henderson who has already won the championship and I’ll certainly not be going out of my way to try to grab second spot off Paul Nicholls, that’s for sure.
But we have some lovely young horses coming through and it’d be very nice to think we could be giving things like the title a little go at some stage as we did not get a clear run at a crucial point in the new year.
