NEWBURY

COLIN Tizzard must now be ranked alongside the top flight National Hunt trainers and on Saturday he added to his laurels when Sizing Tennessee and Elegant Escape gave him a splendid one-two in the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury. He also saddled the fifth home, West Approach.

The easy winner carried the colours of the late Alan and Ann Potts – a poignant moment indeed because the trust fund will not last for ever and their runners in top-class jumps races will gradually fade away. Even so, the memory of this fluent success will linger long in the memory and the well-informed Newbury crowd greeted the 12/1 winner in the appropriate manner.

The race was the climax of the Ladbrokes Winter Festival and the firm will take inevitable references to the Hennessy Gold Cup in its stride. These mentions, too, will fade in time and the fact is that last week’s handicap bore little resemblance to past renewals under the cognac’s name. For a start only a dozen lined up and it is hard to understand why so many horses with a perfectly respectable each-way chances were taken out of an event worth over €140,000 to the winner.

Several of those standing their ground failed to make any impression as Thomas Patrick, the well-backed 3/1 favourite, helped to force a very stern early pace. Not entirely error free, he was headed by Dingo Dollar after the 16th but Tom Scudamore was going well enough on the winner to take it up four out and kick for home.

Elegant Escape stayed on well up the straight and mastered Dingo Dollar for second but was still four lengths adrift of his own stable-companion at the line.

There were no excuses for the beaten contingent with Ms Parfois, whom some thought had the best chance of any mare for several seasons, weakening two out after making a forward move in the straight.

CONSISTENT

Sizing Tennessee is a consistent 10-year-old. He won two bumpers and a maiden hurdle for Willie Mullins before moving to Henry de Bromhead, winning a Navan hurdle from only four runs. Then it was on to Tizzard, who won a Cheltenham novices’ chase with him a year ago and saw him finish third in the National Hunt Chase.

“It’s wonderful,” Tizzard said afterwards. “I was concentrating on the second and thinking he was going well but then I realised he had no chance of catching the leader. Sizing Tennessee wins a little race at Fontwell and now this. It’s incredible really but it’s a team effort and today is a great day.

“He’s in the Welsh National and so is the second, so that’s a race we might think about.”

Tizzard was recording his second victory after subsequent Gold Cup winner Native River prevailed two years ago, while Scudamore, who won on Madison Du Berlais a decade ago, is in a rich vein of form.

“I lost my grandad, my mother’s father, two weeks ago and wasn’t able to go the funeral. Those are the sacrifices you make,” he said.

“He was a tremendous man in the Ledbury area and helped a lot of people.

“I’ve always liked Sizing Tennessee. He stays really well but has the speed to win over two and a half miles and there are more races in him.”