Highlighted by this blog last month as a best-priced 7/1 shot for the 2m Supreme Novices Hurdle, the four-year-old is now no bigger than 3/1 (Totesport) for what seems the most obvious target for this potential champion.
He is also quoted as 9/2 for the 5f further Neptune Novices Hurdle with Stan James, but as short as 11/4 with Victor Chandler.
On a more speculative note, most firms are now quoting the King's Theatre gelding for the 2011 Champion Hurdle, with 16/1 generally available.
Cue Card oozed class from start to finish in landing the race on Friday, jumping accurately throughout and had his rivals cooked by the home turn, eventually coming clear to score by eight lengths from Dunraven Storm.
Part of Cue Card’s charm is that he is trained by Colin Tizzard, who is perceived as a small west-country trainer. However, Tizzard has suddenly found himself as a trainer going places and each year another cowshed on his dairy farm is converted to stables.
Having hammered a quality field and maintained his unbeaten record, Tizzard is understandably excited by the prospects for the four-year-old and the Champion Hurdle is clearly a temptation:
“I don’t want to compare anything,” said Tizzard, “but Arkle won the Gold Cup as a five-year-old. So it wouldn’t be the stupidest thing in the world, would it, to run [Cue Card] in a hurdle? He’ll be five after Christmas.”
In fact, Tizzard had his facts wrong and Arkle was seven before he won the first of his three Gold Cups, but to dwell on that is to miss the point. At the age of 54, the trainer has finally got his hands on a horse that could win him the sport’s very best prizes.
Philip Hobbs, trainer of Dunraven Storm, could hardly believe his talented charge had been brushed aside so readily. “The winner must be an exceptional horse, as some of the others behind us are pretty good, too.” Richard Johnson, riding the runner-up, said Cue Card went past him as if he had joined the race at the second-last.
Timeform have come up with a figure of 156 for the winner, describing the form as “extraordinarily high for this stage of the season” and 8lb better than the average winner of the Supreme. As the horse is four years old, he is a near certainty to improve before March.
Having begun to come down to earth, Tizzard said Cue Card would have one more run before the Festival, towards the end of the year. “We’ve got to mind him now, a little bit, because he had a proper race today. We want to have a little bit left for spring.” Nor would he be drawn further on the Champion Hurdle question, insisting that no decision will be made until after Christmas.
Cue Card clears the last flight at Cheltenham on Friday
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