Trainer Colin Tizzard is very serious about his flat racing ambitions this season after he landed his first winner on the flat with Padleyourowncanoe at Lingfield on Wednesday and now he wants to kick on and expand his operation whilst also maintaining the high standards of his national hunt enterprise.
Padleyourowncanoe won the handicap over two miles at Lingfield under a superb ride from last year's leading female jockey Hollie Doyle who was having her first ride for the yard.
The six year old, who has a chase and hurdle rating of 140, was 11/4 favourite for the contest and went on to take the contest making every inch of the running and being pressed late on to snatch the result by three-quarters of a length.
Tizzard has recently refurbished his flat equipment so he can qualify for a dual-purpose licence after he had already had a few runners at Royal Ascot in the past but this season it looks as if he could field a strong team of runners throughout the summer.
Exceptional! @HollieDoyle1 is simply different class at the moment, giving @colintizzard’s Padleyourowncanoe a top ride to win at @LingfieldPark pic.twitter.com/08buzf33ft
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) January 22, 2020
(Credit Racing Post) Tizzard said: “It has always appealed to us to have horses who can go on the Flat in the summer and then over jumps in the winter, we’ve always fancied that idea but it has never really happened. We’re laughing about it now but it could get a lot more serious over the next year or two, it’s all winners and it’s all good fun.
“We hope to turn more out. When I renewed my dual-purpose licence in January this year we had to get the starter stalls back out and we repainted them and revamped them to qualify for the licence. If we get a few owners keen enough then we will run some more, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t.”
Padleyourowncanoe is set for a quick turn around running on Friday at Wolverhampton where he will be looking for a quick-fire back to back wins on the all weather.
“We don’t think he’s big enough to handle real English winter heavy ground so it was just a warm up for him really," he said.
“He’s declared on Friday and he'll run unless there’s something amiss. We'll get him home and ride him out on Thursday to see if he is fit and well, then we’ll make a decision, but I’m sure he'll run.”