Cheltenham 2016
Cue Card chases Gold Cup dream
A HORSE that was born on a farm in South Wales which had never before bred a champion thoroughbred is standing on the verge of a historic victory that could land its recently widowed owner a £1 million prize.
As well as the size of the prize, victory for Cue Card in today’s Cheltenham Gold Cup would be even more remarkable given that last year the horse suffered breathing difficulties so severe it was struggling to race at all.
If the chaser manages to triumph, the lion’s share of the cash will go to its recently widowed owner Jean Bishop, who is said to see his success as a gift from beyond the grave from husband Bob, who died three months ago.
Mrs Bishop, who lost her husband of 62 years on her birthday, will personally be handed a cheque for £650,000 if her 10-year-old horse romps home – in addition to prize money for the event itself. The race is the final leg in the Jockey Club’s £1 million Triple Crown, on offer to any horse that can land the Betfair Chase, King George VI and Gold Cup in one season.
Cue Card’s King George victory on Boxing Day came three days before the death of the charismatic Mr Bishop, 83, a popular racing figure who delighted in telling how he once came home to find one of the Kray twins on his sofa.
The victory would also be a triumph for the trainer Colin Tizzard, a Somerset dairy farmer competing in a sport increasingly dominated by large yards and multi-millionaire owners. It has been a roller-coaster route to the top for the horse, bred by Welsh farmer Roland Crellin.
Cue Card has enjoyed previous success at Cheltenham courtesy of wins in the Bumper in 2010 and the Ryanair Chase three years later.
But a fractured pelvis and then the necessity for throat surgery kept it from the last two festivals. However, trainers say it has looked better than ever following surgery on a trapped epiglottis – a lump the size of a golf ball – in its throat.
Tizzard said that this year “has been the making” of Cue Card, adding that “last year about three weeks before Cheltenham he could not get up the gallop” because of his throat problem.
However, the horse will also have to defy its advancing years – it would be the first 10-year-old to win since 1998 – and a number of other top-class contenders, including the likely favourite Don Cossack, and last year’s runner up, Djakadam, to lift the Gold Cup. But Tizzard, 60, a Somerset farmer who played schoolboy cricket with Ian Botham, remains hopeful of success.
The trainer, who will take £150,000 of the bonus if the horse lands the treble crown, said “money comes and goes – winning the Gold Cup puts you in the history books”. The Bishops have employed Tizzard’s services for the past six years. Mrs Bishop said: “We have been in racing a long time and the last six years have been perfect for us. Cue Card has given us so much pleasure and we were both so lucky to have him.”
Cue Card’s jockey, Paddy Brennan, who is in line for £100,000 of the prize bonus, paid tribute to the horse’s late owner this week. “Without Bob Bishop, I wouldn’t be riding anything for the Tizzards this year,” he said. “I’ll be forever grateful to him.”
It has not been an easy time for dairy farmers of late. But for one West Country practitioner, branching out into racehorse training might be about to pay a very big dividend. Colin Tizzard, who farms in Blackmore Vale on the Dorset-Somerset border, will saddle Cue Card, one of the favourites for today’s Gold Cup at Cheltenham. Beyond the considerable £320,000 purse for winning is the added incentive of a £1 million bonus for landing the season’s three premier weight-for-age chases, a windfall Tizzard would share with owner Jean Bishop, the jockey and stable staff. Cue Card has won two thirds of the Triple Crown for which the bonus was offered by the Jockey Club in honour of the legendary Kauto Star, which achieved the feat 10 years ago. Cheltenham always throws up great stories. Can the Gold Cup produce another?