Joe Tizzard provides his first update on West End Boy since the gelding went on his summer holiday in May, as he looks to get up to full fitness ahead of next season's campaign. 

West End Boy has been back in the yard for a few weeks now. He had a really good summer in the field, he put on a bit of weight and really filled his frame. We want them to do that during this period, get plenty of grass into them, as it means we can give them plenty of work ahead of the new season proper.

At this stage, it’s all about working on their core fitness, so we started him with one canter a day and we’ve now increased that to two a day. They all tend to be a bit fresh at this time of year, when they’ve not been working for a couple of months, so these canters are a good way of getting that freshness out of them as well.

As well as cantering him, we’ll give him plenty of time on the sand circular ring, again this just helps with his core fitness. We’ll continue with this pattern until early September, at which point we’d start on the faster work and schooling him over obstacles as well. I’ve been riding out plenty, so I might even sit on this fellow myself!

Joe Tizzard, Coral Racing Club Trainer