Colin Tizzard remembers Cue Card a decade on from King George glory

It may have been 10 years ago that Cue Card downed Vautour in a King George classic, but for Colin Tizzard the memories are as clear as yesterday from a Boxing Day quite like no other.

Sent off at 9-2 after dominant victories at Wetherby and Haydock, the pride of Tizzard’s Dorset’s operation was also Britain’s best hope of keeping the Christmas showpiece on home soil, with Gordon Elliott’s Don Cossack assuming favouritism and Willie Mullins’ Vautour adding muster to an imperious Irish challenge.

But an inspired Paddy Brennan in the saddle got the measure of Ruby Walsh with an all-out attack after the last that saw his willing ally stick his neck out when it mattered most.

Hushed silence descended on Sunbury as the wait for the judge’s verdict went on, but then rapturous scenes greeted both Tizzard and a horse firmly lodged in the public’s affections as they made their way to a thronging winner’s enclosure, jam-packed with festive revellers eager to cheer in their champion.

“I was having to watch the screen because I was stood in the crowd and people were patting me on the back saying ‘you’ve got it’ and there it was, the good old horse stayed on and got it on the nod didn’t he? And wasn’t he well liked,” said Tizzard.

“You get there on Boxing Day and there is a hell of a crowd there and the roar that went up from the English crowd on the lawn was something else. I was swamped and it was one of the fantastic days.”

Cue Card’s success came during a golden period for the Venn Farm operation, with Thistlecrack dominating the staying hurdling division that season and subsequent Gold Cup winner Native River already announcing himself as a player on the novice chasing scene.

Although hazy and perhaps taken for granted at the time, that legion of superstars would provide memories of a lifetime for Tizzard over a halcyon period, headed by Cue Card, who was always the ever-present swaggering captain of the team.

“It was a bit of a blur at times as at the time, these wins and big days seemed to be happening quite regularly,” continued Tizzard.

“We had Cue Card, Thistlecrack, Native River and the Potts horses, we were playing in the big races every weekend and it was just a fantastic time of our lives.

“We thought ‘oh we must be doing something right’ and we’ll find these superstars again, but they do take some finding.”

Cue Card’s King George triumph was an unforgettable display of determination and bravery, hallmarking the class his handler identified from the very moment he set eyes on him in Ireland, six years prior to that special Kempton afternoon in Ireland.

He would go on to justify Tizzard’s early belief the following year with a jaw-dropping display in the 2010 Champion Bumper and while hurdling would never be his forte, he was soon locking horns with a vintage crop of chasers, mixing it with the best season upon season, with big-race success never too far away.

Tizzard added: “When he won the Champion Bumper my neck went rigid as I saw him jump in at the top of the hill and come right away. My neck went solid and then he took us to places we had never been before.

“He was brilliant right to the end and he must have raced from four until he was 12 and spent seven or eight seasons right at the top. He a pleasure to train and just a very good horse.

“I remember when we saw him at the sales in Ireland. The agents had trotted up a big grey horse they were trying to recommend to me and then I looked down the line and someone was trotting up Cue Card and I thought to myself ‘that’s the one I want’.

“He was such an athletic horse compared to the great big three-year-old store we were looking at and he was just an athlete, that’s what he was from the beginning till the end.”

Although already a dual Cheltenham Festival winner, that King George-winning season of 2015-2016 was arguably Cue Card at his peak.

However, headed straight to Prestbury Park for his first tilt at the Cheltenham Gold Cup and a generous bounty on offer if landing the final leg of the stayers’ triple crown, you hit perhaps the only elephant in the room when discussing the illustrious career of Cue Card.

Travelling powerfully and having been expertly steered into contention by Brennan disaster struck three from home and blue riband dreams went up in smoke as Cue Card was left sprawling on the Cotswolds turf to gasps heard far and beyond.

The ‘would he have won?’ question remains one of racing’s most intriguing talking points, with Cue Card quickly exorcising his demons with Grade One success at Aintree and for his trainer, who would eventually get his hands on the Festival’s most prized trophy two years later, there is contentment that his horse of lifetime lived to fight another day.

Tizzard explained: “The main thing I remember about the Gold Cup is just thinking ‘get up Cue Card’. I can get beat all my life and I just wanted that horse to get up and he did which for me was fantastic.

“He was at the top table and that day we were going for the £1million bonus at Cheltenham he was at his very best. I think he could have won over two miles, three or four that year, he was that good.”