Cue Card remains unbeaten
Reputations of novice hurdlers in November can be fragile vessels in which to load too much by way of a cargo of hope.
Cue Card had suggested that he might be a cut above the average when he made a winning start of hurdles at Aintree last month and he gave real substance to the belief that he is something special when he won the Grade Two Cheltenham Collection Sharp Novices´ Hurdle on the first day of the Open meeting at Cheltenham.
The Champion Bumper winner at Cheltenham last March, Cue Card had just always been pulling a bit too hard in the early stages at Liverpool and Colin Tizzard, the gelding’s trainer, had said that he was hoping for a good pace as he dropped his horse back to an extended two miles from the two-and-a-half miles of that debut run.
Ballyadam Brook did his best through the first half-mile when Paul Townend poached a 10-length lead from the start but, as the pace slowed down along the back straight, the field closed at the fourth-last flight. Cue Card missed out the third-last flight but it did nothing to slow his momentum and he loomed very large alongside Dunraven Storm on the home turn with Joe Tizzard simply waiting for the moment to take up the running. Cue Card came clear from the last and drew eight lengths further away by the line without appearing drawing significantly on what still seems to be untapped reserves.
“He's a machine,” was the jockey’s first thoughts after Cue Card took his unbeaten career record to four. “He switched off lovely and he only picked the bridle up at the second-last. The trip was no problem – two miles is his trip now. The next stepping stone’s been done. He missed one out but it’s only his second run over hurdles – he’s never been that fast jumping a hurdle – and even missing one out he’s quick doing it.”
Most bumper winners tend to be staying types but Tizzard is sure that Cue Card has the pace to take on the best at the minimum distance. “In the better races, where they go the gallop like they did today, a top class two-miler needs to stay as well.”
That view was backed up by the form experts, with Timeform reckoning that Cue Card’s performance was better than that put up by most winners of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. That would seem the likely target – even if some pundits have tried to push for him to run in the Champion Hurdle after just two runs over timber – and Tizzard Snr said: “That’s everything we hoped for. It was a very different race from his previous one. They went off fast today and he didn’t pull - a fast-run two miles seems ideal and he jumps well and stays up this hill.
“I had concerns on the last bend, because Joe started to move on him for the first time ever. He didn’t go past Dunraven Storm that easily, but in the end he won by eight lengths. Joe asked him and he found more, so he’s starting to settle.
“He’s only four and we’ve got to look after him, so I would think one more run around Christmas, probably back here because it’s not too far to drive and they do a nice meal! We need to keep something back for the spring.”
“He has always been a good jumper and the Champion Bumper form is absolutely rock solid - even the horse that finished 20th has won in an ordinary race. Everything has won and he beat them hollow. It’s not me pretending that he is a good horse, he is a serious machine.
“I’ll never have another one this good - he’s special. He can jump, he can stay and he settles - everything about him is brilliant.”
Alan King has described last season as “a blip” in public – although there were probably a few more choice descriptions resorted to privately at moments when the next winner seemed some way out of reach. The upshot is that the trainer has started the current term with a batch of horses some of whom may be better handicapped than they might otherwise be.
Rustarix was on a career-low mark for the Irish Times Amateur Riders' Handicap Chase and that was more than enough to give young James Banks a first Cheltenham winner.
Sam Waley-Cohen, who will be riding the well-backed Long Run in the Paddy Power Gold Cup, took the lead at the third-last on Swing Bill but could not get clear of Rustarix who settled the issue with two good jumps in the home straight and then stayed on to win by a length, with long-time leader Knowhere plugging on for third.
http://www.senore.com/Time-For-Rupert-shows-his-mettle-at-Cheltenham-a40704http://www.senore.com/Lacdoudal-wins-Glenfarclas-Cross-Country-Chase-a40682
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