Joe Tizzard’s Patient Progression: How Alexei Went from Handicapper to Champion Hurdle Entry in One Season

The story of Alexei’s 2025-26 season is also the story of how a trainer reads a horse’s development correctly and resists the temptation to rush it. Joe Tizzard, operating from Venn Farm in Dorset, the Tizzard family’s base since Colin Tizzard’s long career produced Gold Cup winner Native River in 2018, has taken Alexei from a 134-rated Greatwood Hurdle win in November to a Grade 2 Kingwell Hurdle victory and a confirmed Champion Hurdle entry in three months. The sequencing was precise and unhurried.

The Season Architecture

Alexei began the 2025-26 campaign with a second in the DragonBet Welsh Champion Hurdle at Chepstow. That was a learning run, stepping up in grade from his prior novice experience to test the waters. The next start was a valuable Ascot handicap win. Then came the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham’s November meeting, where Alexei won by six lengths off a mark of 134 under Brendan Powell. Tizzard’s reaction was measured: “Everything has been mentioned and there’s been lots of nice discussions with the owners, but I do think we’ll be all right still in handicaps for the moment.”

The Ascot Rotary Club Festive Handicap Hurdle came before Christmas, Alexei chased Wilful hard and finished third carrying top-weight, beaten by a rival who later won at Windsor. Tizzard’s gloss on the effort was characteristically calm: the form was good, the circumstances explained the defeat, and the plan remained unchanged.

The Kingwell Hurdle had been designated as the route to Cheltenham before Christmas. Tizzard said in January: “He is going to go to the Kingwell and we will almost certainly run him in a Champion Hurdle.” He put in a William Hill Hurdle entry at Newbury as insurance but never intended to use it.

Reading the Ground Question

The most interesting element of Tizzard’s management of Alexei is his handling of the going uncertainty. Alexei’s best form has come on Good to Soft or softer, but his trainer has been careful not to overclaim his versatility. Before the Kingwell, run on Heavy ground at Wincanton, Tizzard said: “I think he’ll handle the ground as well as anything.” Owner Garth Broom was more cautious: “Personally I think he is better on faster ground, but you can only run on what is presented to you.”

Alexei duly won on Heavy ground, by a length and a quarter from Rubaud, suggesting his form at Cheltenham’s November meeting, rated six lengths better by time than the Wincanton result, had been achieved on softer conditions than his connections fully appreciated. Colin Tizzard, Joe’s father, reinforced the case for the Champion Hurdle by pointing to the historical pattern: Golden Ace and Burdett Road, last year’s Cheltenham first and second, both used the Kingwell as their final prep.

What the Pattern Tells Us

Joe Tizzard has produced his first realistic Champion Hurdle entry at the age of 45, having taken over the licence from his father in 2022. The training pattern with Alexei demonstrates a key quality: the willingness to run through handicap races at valuable levels rather than bypassing them in pursuit of graded glory too soon. Alexei won prize money at Ascot, learned to handle soft ground at Cheltenham, and learned to handle heavier going at Wincanton, each run adding data and experience before the biggest ask arrives.

Tizzard’s summary after the Kingwell captured the yard’s approach precisely: “If you’d said to us in the autumn he was a Champion Hurdle horse, he was nowhere near it, but we’ve had a cracking season with him and we’ll roll the dice.” That phrase, “roll the dice”, is not a gamble. It is the conclusion of a carefully constructed preparation, and the dice are loaded with form, fitness, and experience.