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Brendan Powell set for first ride on Fiddlerontheroof at Carlisle
Brendan Powell's return to being a key part of the Colin Tizzard team has been underlined by the prospect of riding Ladbrokes Trophy hope Fiddlerontheroof on Sunday.
He is likely to be on board when last season's Brown Advisory Novices' Chase runner-up launches his campaign in the Colin Parker Memorial Intermediate Chase at Carlisle.
Powell has ridden ten winners for Tizzard in 2020-21, having won just one race for the yard in the previous four seasons combined, but he landed big prizes on horses such as Golden Chieftain, Native River and Hey Big Spender in the past.
Fiddlerontheroof has been ridden by Robbie Power in all bar one start over fences but Tizzard's son and assistant Joe said on Tuesday: "I think Brendan will ride him on Sunday. He, Jonjo O'Neill and Harry Cobden turn up every Wednesday morning – Jonjo and Harry have their commitments but Brendan has had a really good summer riding for us.
"He rode us a Cheltenham Festival winner when he was a conditional on Golden Chieftain. He's riding very well and he's slotted into the picture.
"We're getting to the busy part of the winter when every Saturday there are two or three meetings and we aim to have runners at two or three meetings. You need a team of jockeys. Robbie is back in Ireland but when he's over we'll continue to use him plenty."
Fiddlerontheroof's owners took the same Carlisle race with Lostintranslation two years ago and Tizzard, whose planned takeover of the licence from his father has been put back until later in the season, said: "This has been the target for some time.
"Fiddlerontheroof came up against all of the best staying novice chasers last season. He's got quite a few seconds to his name but he didn't disgrace himself at all. He's improving with age and we're looking forward to him.
"Our horses were certainly not firing all of last season but he maintained consistency throughout the year and off the back of how everything else ran that shows his level of ability, hopefully there's a bit more to come.
"He's a 148-rated horse at the moment. Second-season chasers have to make that next step, but we're going down a tried-and-tested route for us and we like this race, with his first main target being the Ladbrokes Trophy at the end of November."
Lostintranslation, who finished third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2020, is out to redeem himself after a winless 2020-21.
"It was a difficult season with him," Tizzard said. "We ran every test and never really got to the bottom of why he wasn't finishing his races. He's had a full hobday wind operation through the summer and he looks a million dollars at the moment.
"We'll probably try to get a racecourse gallop into him, possibly after the Badger Beer next weekend if we get enough rain, then we're quite fluid on where he's going to start. We want him to be 100 per cent first time.
"I've made an entry for the Ladbrokes Trophy for him this morning. He's dropped to 162 and he's run very well round Newbury before, or there's Haydock or the Many Clouds, but we want to make sure he's bang on.
"At home he's showing all the signs he's definitely still got it and we certainly haven't written him off yet."
More to read:
Lostintranslation proves Cheltenham Gold Cup credentials with win at Carlisle
October change for Joe Tizzard as licence switch from father Colin beckons
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