Sizing Tennessee romps home to give Colin Tizzard a one-two in Ladbrokes Trophy

Colin Tizzard joked he has always been good at training big, slow horses, but there was nothing snail-like about Sizing Tennessee, who seized his opportunity to win jump racing's second most important handicap with dash and panache not necessarily associated with his stable's MO.

At 3m2f on testing ground, the Ladbrokes Trophy, or Hennessy Gold Cup in old money, will always take some winning and despite a smaller-than-usual field, it was still enough of a blood-and-guts affair to catch out The Young Master, American, Black Corton and 3-1 favourite Thomas Patrick, who did not complete.

That left Sizing Tennessee, a 12-1 shot ridden by Tom Scudamore, to stroll home by an authoritative ten lengths from his stablemate Elegant Escape, while the Alan King-trained Dingo Dollar was third.

Completing a near-dream result for Team Tizzard, West Approach finished fifth.

Watch a replay of the Ladbrokes Trophy

Much is made of Tizzard the stock man who lives for three-mile chasers and little else in terms of horses or cows for that matter, but there was no mistaking his delight as he captured the £250,000 prize for a second time in three years after Native River's success in 2016.

That horse went on to win a Cheltenham Gold Cup, which might be beyond the ten-year-old Sizing Tennessee, but the Coral Welsh Grand National – a race Native River landed after his Hennessy – could come into calculations.

"I was encouraged when I legged Tom up and he said, 'He's probably one of the best handicappers in this race'," Tizzard explained.

"He bolted up first time out at Fontwell and we thought there was only one race for him before Christmas and he goes and does that. He had leg trouble before he came to me and has low mileage. It's good when it works out, but he just strolled away from them.

"When they win like that it does surprise you. I thought he'd run a big race and he was the one, unless he clobbered a fence, who was going to win."

Tizzard's day might have been even better had his early-autumn plan to run Thistlecrack come to fruition, but little was wiping the smile off his cheery Dorset face.

"We've come here this weekend and been disappointed with three or four runners as it's so competitive," he added. "For him to do that and have three of the first five is unreal. I've always been quite good at training big, slow horses.

"If entries were tomorrow I'd put him in the Gold Cup; this is fantastic. We tried plenty with him last year. He was legless in the four-miler at Cheltenham and I was sure we jarred him up in the Scottish National at Ayr, but he's come back and had these two runs this season. Things happen when we don't know they'll happen and that's the beauty of jump racing."

That is, perhaps, what attracted Sizing Tennessee's late owners Alan and Ann Potts to the game.

They died last year and their green and yellow silks, which were carried to Cheltenham Gold Cup glory by Sizing John, will become a rare sight on Britain's racecourses unless their legacy string continue to fire.

Tizzard said: "There's a trust, which continues as the horses do well, but they're not going to replace any. When their racing lives are over we'll find them good homes. At this moment there are no plans to replace any, but there is an awful lot going on and when a man as big as that dies nothing gets sorted out in five minutes.

"We've got to make sure we win enough money to finance it all and this one's done a good job today."

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