cheltenham | team tizzard
go and talk to any person, whereas I wouldn’t do that.” “Joe’s definitely the most relaxed,” Colin adds. “If we are with people in a room and there are owners sat on their own, I say to Joe, you ought to be talking to them.” “And he’s gone, he’s done it,” Kim says. Colin shakes his head. “And I don’t do that, you see. I find that difficult.” “Dad’s biggest attribute is not being afraid of anything...” Kim continues. “He’s not afraid to have a go,” Joe adds. “With horses he’s happy to chuck them in at the deep end...” Kim: “Whereas I always think ‘oh my God, is that the right thing to do?’ Dad doesn’t worry about it.” “He’ll say, ‘don’t be scared of it going wrong’,” Joe continues. “That’s what you say, isn’t it, Dad?” “Never be afraid of getting beat... because, you’ve got to try haven’t you?” Colin responds. “I think that attitude just makes us more confident. There’s not a day goes by when we’re not trying to think, ‘where’s the next owner coming from?’ It is a big, big wheel now, it’s ticking round all the time. I’m lucky, I’ve got a wife and two children here, and I know that if I walk away for a day or a week, it all carries on exactly the same.” Kim: “And equally, we all want to succeed. We want to be racing... to be winning Cheltenham Gold Cups, and winning at Taunton for a lady or a charity or anybody who keeps their horses with us. We’ve got this far and we’re not about to go back to just training ten horses.” The conversation turns from human qualities to equine, and the important traits needed for a Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning horse. Colin attests to the fact that Cheltenham Gold Cup horses “have to be very strong minded. They can’t be anything else, or they’ll start worrying about hard races coming up. A horse could be quite good
but it won’t be great because it just won’t try very hard. “Native River wasn’t always a good horse. He never got round his first point-to-point, he came third out of four in his first Bumper. But almost without exception he’s got better with every race. Hard races don’t bother him and he’s relentless… horses rated 95 can beat him on our gallops (Native River is rated 176). But in a race? He’s not afraid of going through the pain barrier. He does that, and he’d do it again. And he’s a lovely big horse now, he looks better now than he did last year. It’s marvellous to see.” It’s no surprise to hear that all roads lead to the Cheltenham Gold Cup again this season, and that a showdown with the Tizzard-trained Thistlecrack is almost inevitable. “There’s only about six races that Native River can run in off a mark of 176,” Colin explains, “so there’s not a lot of choice as to where we can race. I don’t think we’ll ever keep him away from Thistlecrack though, nor would the owners want us to. If they are in good form in autumn, they might even meet before the Cheltenham Gold Cup, at Haydock. You only get these horses once in a lifetime and if they’re fit and well they can race once a month.” “If they came first and second though…” Joe adds, “that would be the perfect scenario.” Before the interview ends, there’s the small matter of the recent retirement of legendary chaser Cue Card, to raise. “He deserves to be looked after. He put us on the map. We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing if it wasn’t for him,” acknowledges Kim. “For any other sport he’s in his prime. In fact we’re going to put some shoes on him in a minute. He’s going to have an active retirement.” Not something you can envisage Colin Tizzard and family doing for many years to come.
Below Joe, Colin,
Pauline and Kim at their kitchen table
Kalendar 73
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