The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Cue Card ‘has another big day in him’
Cue Card is on course to bid for a third victory in the Betfair Ascot Chase at the Berkshire track on Saturday.
Colin Tizzard’s stable favourite lifted the prize 12 months ago – four years on from his first success in the Grade One contest.
Now aged 12, Cue Card may be coming towards the end of what has been a glittering career, but connections still feel he has the ability to play his part in another big race.
He has not run since finishing a distant second to Bristol De Mai in the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November.
Tizzard’s son and assistant, Joe, said: “He has had a nice break and schooled beautifully on Wednesday morning. He seems in the best form he has been all season. He really is in good nick.
“We haven’t written him off by any stretch of the imagination, so we are looking forward to running him. I don’t think there was anything wrong with the Haydock run. On different days different horses win those top-class races.
“Bristol De Mai was perhaps unbeatable on that day (at Haydock) and it is a bit different when you go elsewhere.
“I still think he has got another big day in him.”
Cue Card will faces a maximum of six rivals: Nicky Henderson’s Top Notch; Waiting Patiently, for Ruth Jefferson; the Eddie Harty trained Gold Cup possible Coney Island; Nigel Hawke’s Speredek; the Gary Mooretrained Traffic Fluide; and Paul Nicholls’ Frodon.