Cue Card set to head straight for Gold Cup
The nine-year-old got up on the line to deny Irish raider Vautour by a head in a scintillating renewal of the esteemed Grade One.
His trainer is now keen to give Cue Card a break before preparing him for a tilt at the blue riband in March.
The Dorset handler said: “He had a hard race. He trotted out fine this morning, but we won’t run again (before the Gold Cup).
“He’s had three quick-ish races and it’s only just over two months (until Cheltenham), anyway.”
Having landed the Betfair Chase at Haydock before his King George triumph, Cue Card will pick up a cool £1million bonus if he can complete the hat-trick in the Gold Cup.
Tizzard said: “When they put the money up I thought it was an impossible task, but it’s getting closer.
“If we win a King George and a Gold Cup that would be something to live on for the rest of my life, anyway.
“We’ve all seen Cue Card making all (of the running) in the Ryanair and bolting up, but this is a completely different horse now.”
The only sour note to a magnificent race was the fact winning jockey Paddy Brennan was handed an 11-day suspension and fined £4,200 for using his whip above the permitted level, while Vautour’s rider Ruby Walsh was also banned for two days.
“I hope the whip thing doesn’t take over from what was a fantastic race,” Tizzard said.
“The two jockeys involved got caught up in the excitement and broke the rules and ended up having a fine and a ban.
“He’s been out this morning, there’s not a mark on him – he’s absolutely A1.”
Meanwhile it is two down and one to go for Cue Card in his pursuit of the £1million bonus on offer for the chasing triple crown after he laid his Kempton Park hoodoo to rest with a dramatic last-gasp victory on Saturday.
Silviniaco Conti, in his bid to win the race for a third successive season, set out to make all, just as he did 12 months ago, and the nine-year-old looked as though he may play a part before quickly going backwards once passed by Vautour at the 11th fence.
One by one each of those in behind Vautour started to feel the pressure, while all the time Ruby Walsh looked to still have plenty underneath him rounding the home turn.
After clearing the third-last Willie Mullins’ runner saw his chief market rival Don Cossack part company with Bryan Cooper at the penultimate fence, leaving just Cue Card as the only realistic challenger.
Still with several lengths to find from two out, Cue Card began to gather a good head of steam as Vautour, for the first time in the race, looked in trouble with his stride shortening.
With a good jump over the last for either horse virtually assuring victory, neither got it as both got in tight leaving them to knuckle down to a pulsating battle up the short run-in.
As Vautour still held a narrow advantage it looked as though a magical 35 minutes for owner Rich Ricci and Closutton handler Mullins would be completed having saddled Faugheen to victory in the Christmas Hurdle and Douvan in the Racing Post Novice Chase at Leopardstown.
But it was not to be, with Cue Card producing one final effort to get up on the line and score by a head to continue his rejuvenation since undergoing a breathing operation. Al Ferof, now with Dan Skelton, was third for the third year in succession.
Tizzard’s pride and joy was adding to his facile win in the Betfair Chase last time out, to leave him with just victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup to pick up the seven-figure windfall put forward by Jockey Club Racecourses.
Tizzard said: “Nowadays he’s a completely different horse, he might not look as if he’s going very well but he has that left for the end. It’s fantastic.
“He’s been a great horse for five or six seasons now. Going to the last if he’d met it on a good stride he would have won by a length and a half.
“When he won the Champion Bumper as a four-year-old everyone thought we had trained him too hard, but he showed that they do come back.
“We’ll see how he is, but he looks like a Gold Cup horse now, whether he races again (before Cheltenham) I don’t know, he’s had a hard race and was all out.
“It’s lovely he relaxes so well in a race, it’s brilliant. The good horses are doing very well at the minute and dreams are made of this.”
Brennan said: “It’s the best feeling of my whole career. I can’t take it in. I’ve beaten one of the best horses in training and beaten one of the best jockeys I’ve ever ridden against. My wife and son watching at home will be so proud.”
Mullins was magnanimous in defeat and admitted it was “probably” a lack of stamina which cost Vautour, who was shortened into 6-4 for the Ryanair Chase by Coral and William Hill.
He said: “He did everything right, bar the last 20 yards,” said Mullins.
“He didn’t jump the last as efficiently as he could have, but it was a very brave run, as it was from the winner.
“I don’t know if his stamina gave out, but it probably looks like that.
“We won’t make a decision about the Gold Cup for a while, we’ll see what we have to run in it when it comes – I won’t be taking him out of it, anyhow.”
