Hear the full interview
From 16:31 in Friday’s episode of Nick Luck Daily. Press play to start at the interview.
Joe Tizzard says Alexei has been “flying in his work” ahead of his return in Saturday’s Molyneux Hurdle at Aintree, where he takes on Mydaddypaddy.
Tizzard had planned to start Alexei in the Fighting Fifth, but changed his mind three weeks ago. “He’s been flying in his work. It’s not a last-minute decision,” he told Nick Luck. “I thought, you know what, he’s in good form, I’m going to crack on with him and take him to Aintree. I couldn’t be happier with him for his first run. It’s not a straightforward race, but at the end of the day, these are the races we’re going to be in this year.”
‘He doesn’t need to find a great deal’
Tizzard thinks Alexei has more improvement to come. “At home he looks really well. I think there’s some natural improvement still to come with him, and he doesn’t need to find a great deal,” he said.
He says Alexei, who came off the Flat in Germany, is not the type the yard has usually bought. “We haven’t had many horses as fundamentally quick as him,” he said. “But he’s good fun to have, and he’s very straightforward to train, because he’s a horse that wants to do it. He’s quite a naturally fit sort of horse.” Between his races last year, he added, “I didn’t have to do a great deal with him. Through the autumn we went to the well pretty quick a few times. I’d give him one piece of work and away he went again.”
“He’s a horse that wants to do it, and his work’s good.”
Joe Tizzard on Alexei
Brendan Powell update
Stable jockey Brendan Powell broke his forearm in a fall at Plumpton on Monday. “The next 24 hours weren’t great, but he’s had an operation in London,” Tizzard said. “It was a cleanish break on both bones in his forearm. There were a couple of floating bits of bone they had to sort out, but pretty straightforward things. We don’t know any sort of timelines, but he’s had the op, and he can keep moving and keep himself fit. I’m hoping he’ll be back sooner rather than later, that’s for sure.” Harry Cobden rides Alexei on Saturday.
JPR One, a recent winner for the yard with Jonjo O’Neill Jr deputising, is out again quickly. “He came out of it great. He loves skipping around on that good ground, and over those two-mile chases you can go to the well a bit quicker on good ground,” Tizzard said. “He looks and feels fantastic at home, and we weren’t going to miss this opportunity.” He may stick him in again at Cheltenham, but added: “I don’t know if I’m going to be that greedy.”
A flying start
The Tizzard yard has started the season in excellent form. “We got going a bit earlier this year, chased some rearranged meetings and got some lovely novices running on lovely ground,” he said. “We’ve had a better October than previous years. The yard’s flying, and everybody’s loving every second of it. It’ll be a strange feeling if we go racing and don’t have a winner at the minute.”
