How to become a successful racehorse trainer

Cheltenham’s end of January meeting is supposed to be an amuse-gueule to give us a few form lines for the four-day Festival in March. Instead, this one gave us everything including emotional victories for an 18-year-old jockey and a 92-year-old owner, a demonstration round by a new female hurdling superstar and defeat by inches for the most popular horse in training. It also underlined the many qualities needed to be a successful racehorse trainer.

To keep a 12-year-old like Paisley Park relishing his racing the way he clearly still does takes a special talent

First things first. The Clarence House Chase, run at Cheltenham after being frosted off at Ascot the weekend before, was supposed to be a formality for Nicky Henderson’s chaser Jonbon who went off at 1-4. Jonbon hit the fourth-last fence and sprawled. Jockey James Bowen seemed certain to hit the ground but in a miraculous feat of acrobatics managed to remain in contact with his mount. He allowed Jonbon time to recover and clawed back a lead from Elixir de Nutz two fences out but the recovery had cost him and the grey, partnered by 18-year-old Freddie Gingell, was able to hold him off by a neck up the hill. It was a first Grade One winner in his own right for trainer Joe Tizzard and a first Grade One winner on his first ride in one for Freddie, whose mother, Kim, a mainstay of the Tizzard yard, died of cancer in 2020 at only 43. Said Uncle Joe of his nephew: ‘He could have panicked but he saved a little bit. He gets a real tune out of that horse. He’s got it all in front of him. He’s the right size and very good over a fence. Kim would have been so proud of what she put into him.