Joe Tizzard thinks Cue Card will not fluff his lines
Talking horses can prove to be expensive and talk can be cheap if the horse being talked about cannot measure up.
Cue Card is an impressive stamp of a horse who could measure up by any standards. He may have been the surprise package when he won the Grade One Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival in March but the way that he marched away from his field at Aintree on Sunday, by 13 lengths and hardly out of second gear on his jumping debut, made him the horse that everyone is talking about.
At 31 Joe Tizzard has seen enough horses, stretching back to the days when he rode as No.1 jockey for Paul Nicholls, to be able to tell which are the good ones and the jockey has no doubts. “I don’t think I’d get bored talking about him,” he said.
Tizzard’s biggest worry was what to do with the bundle of energy that wanted to attack every hurdle. “They went no gallop early on and he pulled very hard, which wasn’t ideal. We could have done with a bit more pace that would have helped him settle. But he jumped well and I couldn’t believe how easily he had them all beat after jumping three out.
“I ride him virtually every day at home and he was in cracking form going into it. I thought he’d win the race like he did to be honest with you. It was his first time – although he’s schooled well – but you’ve got to do it on the track.”
Already Cue Card’s trainer – Tizzard’s father, Colin – is being asked whether, after just one race over 11 hurdles and two wins in bumpers, the horse will run in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival next March or go for broke and in the Champion Hurdle itself.
Tizzard Jnr brings a bit of West Country common sense to a debate that is threatening to get out of control faster than a runaway horse. “We’ll probably go to Cheltenham, for the Open meeting, the next stop and take on some better horses,” he said before turning his attention to matters five months over a winter’s horizon.
“We haven’t talked about it or thought about it. He’ll be entered in both but it’s a decision we haven’t got to make right now. We’ll give him another couple of runs before Christmas, take on some better horses and see how he progresses.
“It’s a lovely question to have but one we won’t be making any decisions on until a lot nearer the time.”
There may be a deal of distance between now and the Cheltenham Festival but there is also the question of what might be the best distance for Cue Card? His bumper runs did not take him beyond and extended two miles, but he took the two-and-a-half miles of his first novice hurdle in his ground-devouring stride. “I think that’s what defines a top-class horse,” Tizzard pointed out. “Top-class horses invariably have that cruising pace and he’s definitely got that. He’s bred to get three miles but we’ve got no problems dropping back to two and we’ve got no problems running him at two-and-a-half at the moment.”
That simply leaves the question of whether Cue Card has the class to deliver on the promise he has shown thus far? “I believe he has,” Tizzard said, adding for emphasis “Definitely. I think he’s already proven enough with his Bumper win and I believe he’s one of, if not the, nicest horses I’ve ever sat on. And I think he’s going to keep progressing.”
Alan King is expecting progress from Franklino after his defeat on the same card at Aintree. He was started the race as one of the market leaders for the Triumph Hurdle but had already started drifting before he finished a rather tame third on his first run over timber.
However, King believes that the horse will improve considerably for the run and said on his website: “He just got tired at Aintree and, like most of ours, he needed his first run. He jumped and travelled well and will be a different horse next time. He came from the same source as Walkon and Mille Chief, both of whom have done so well for Max McNeill [the owner], and he has always ticked all the right boxes at home, and, like Mille Chief, he does everything so easily on the gallops and simply loves his jumping.
“He’ll be back.”
And that is straight talking.
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