Joe Tizzard: Trainer expects to see more British horses at next year's Grand National

Trainer Joe Tizzard expects the "tide will turn" next year on the number of English-trained horses at the Grand National.

Eldorado Allen, from the trainer based on the Somerset-Dorset border, is one of only five English entries out of the 34 runners in Saturday's race.

The grey has odds of 66-1 in a field that has been reduced from 40 to 34 this year for safety reasons.

"British trainers aren't shying away from the Grand National," Tizzard said.

"At the moment we don't have the horses that are qualified or good enough to get in the race. It's as simple as that and there are a lot of them in Ireland.

"It's swings and roundabouts, it's something that as English trainers we're conscious of and everybody's looking at it."

He told BBC Radio Somerset: "If you look at the Cheltenham results and what horses ran there and what horses ran in the stayers' chase there, I think next year the tide will turn a little bit.

"I wouldn't say it's an immediate thing, there'll still be a lot of Irish horses, but I think there'll be more British horses next year."

During an 18-year career as a jockey, Tizzard's best Grand National finish was fifth on Montifault in 2003. Nineteen years later, Fiddlerontheroof - then trained by Joe's father Colin, but now under his stewardship - was also fifth.

Eldorado Allen won the Denman Chase in 2022 and finished fourth in the Coral Gold Cup in December but pulled up at Cheltenham Festival last month.

"It's a race we've talked about with Eldorado Allen all season," Tizzard said.

"If he gets a bit of luck and running and he hunts away and creeps into it then who's to say when they cross the Melling Road he won't be there with a chance.

"It would be unbelievable - I feel privileged to be part of this huge race, I feel privilege that we've got a horse good enough to run in it."