Cue Card, the fans favourite who won nine Grade 1 races and fell agonisingly short of clinching a £1 million bonus payout, has died of a heart attack.
The 16-year-old, who in retirement was still part of the Tizzard family string, was out at exercise with his regular partner Hameer Singh when it happened on Friday.
"He sadly had a heart attack this morning with Hameer [Singh] riding him,” said Joe Tizzard. “He rode him virtually every day for the last few years of his training career. He'll be sadly missed, he became my wife's pet and he was happy with where he was and he didn't suffer."
Cue Card helped establish Colin Tizzard and son Joe, who rode him at the start of his career, as a major jumps stable.
He won 16 of his 41 races, operating throughout at the sport’s elite level. On only his second start he won the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham in 2010 and went on to become one of the sport’s most successful chasers.
He won the Ryanair Chase in 2013, the King George VI Chase in 2015 and three editions of the Betfair Chase. By the time he retired in 2018 he had amassed £1.4 million in win and place earnings for owner Bob and Jean Bishop.
His 2015 Betfair and the King George victories set him on a path to the Jockey Club Triple Crown for which Cue Card would clinch £1 million prize if he could add the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season.
He looked on course to pull it off under Paddy Brennan at Cheltenham in March 2016 until, when disputing the lead and still travelling strongly, he fell at the third last fence.
"He's been an absolute star to us,” Tizzard added. “As a racehorse he was unbelievable. He certainly put our names on the map, he was huge.
"He had such longevity, he just kept coming back year after year. He's a once in a lifetime horse.”
Brennan said in a tweet: "Beyond devastated to hear the news about my old friend Cue Card.. Thoughts with Mrs Bishop and the Tizzards on this sad day."
