Cue Card heads straight to Cheltenham

Cue Card is likely to head straight to the Cheltenham Festival without another run after confirming he is in the big league with a fine performance yesterday.

The lightly-raced four-year-old, trained by Colin Tizzard, found only Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Menorah too good in the StanJames.com International Hurdle at the Prestbury Park track.

Tizzard will give Cue Card entries in the Champion Hurdle and the Supreme and decide which race to go for nearer the time.

“He’s fine, he’s come back and eaten up. He’s just had the hardest race of his life and I don’t think he lost anything in defeat,” said the Dorset handler.

“It was what racing is all about. Menorah with a pacemaker was going to grind us into the ground.

“From being stuck in a pocket, Menorah burst through and went from two lengths down to three lengths up in 10 strides. It was a magical race.

“We are mindful of the jewel we’ve got and he won’t run again until the Festival now.

“He’ll be entered in both, no doubt. I’ve been talking to his owner Bob Bishop and we’ll see what happens in the next month but he won’t run again. He doesn’t need to.

“He ran in January last season and we didn’t run him again until the Champion Bumper.

“We’ll let him fill up and have a go at one of the races at the Festival this year.

“He’s a beautiful horse and we want to have him like this for the next three or four years.”