I think he was winning anyway, going better of the two at the time - Richard Johnson's quote: 'I was n't confident but I was n't beat' in today's RP suggests he though that too.

More intriguing is quote from Cue Card's owner Bob Bishop that he still fancies a crack at the QM.

I thought his wife owned the horse - however, Bob says his family wil try to sway him towards the Ryanair but he's not easily swayed.

The fact that there's still a degree of uncertainty about his target might explain the price holding up. Plus it's a very competitive filed potentially of course.

confirmed for Ryan Air

CUE CARD will tackle the longer trip in the Ryanair Chase, the race for which he is the 4-1 favourite, rather than take on Sprinter Sacre in the Champion Chase, for which he was 10-1 third choice of the bookmakers, trainer Colin Tizzard has revealed.

The winner of the 2010 Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival has finished one place behind Sprinter Sacre at Cheltenham for the last two years, when fourth in the 2011 Supreme and last year when second in the Racing Post Arkle, and the Tizzard camp have opted to avoid their imperious Nicky Henderson-trained rival.
"We're going for the Ryanair with Cue Card but he will be left in the Champion Chase and if the favourite comes out we may consider going back to the Queen Mother," Tizzard told the Racing Post.

Since last year's Arkle defeat Cue Card has raced three times, making his seasonal reappearance in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter, where he romped to a 26-length win and put down a marker for the season.

A fifth in the King George followed, when a mistake at the first two fences didn't help and the 3m trip appeared too much, but dropped to 2m5½f on his last start in the Ascot Chase, Cue Card landed the second Grade 1 of his career and moved to the head of the Ryanair betting.

He is one of several horses who could run in either the Ryanair and Champion Chase, and with Sprinter Sacre red-hot favourite for the Champion Chase, plenty are expected to take the same route as Cue Card.

Hills going 5/1 Cue Card tomorrow

Well the Ryan Air final declarations are in and it could not have worked out better for Cue Card

Just 8 runners, drying ground and a clear form edge makes the 4.7 Betfair a huge price

as I've said my only worry is the jockey. He does have a relatively simple task though, in terms of race riding, in that he is going to try and make all.

I'm already on for what is my normal max but am going in again as in my book he should be about a 2/1 clear favourite and he will surely go much shorter in running if you wanted to trade out to get the stake back. I will have some lays in at very low odds just in case

huge punt for me with everything in his favour

it's simple really

Bobs Worth only just got up on the line to beat CC when getting 7lbs (and I maintain that a top jockey would have got CC home by 2 or 3 lengths)

at level weights these rivals will need to improve, or CC run below form, to beat him. 8lb clear on my ratings

unclepuncle
17 Feb 13 17:20

I'd say there is an incredibly slim chance of Cue Card ever winning a Gold Cup. Equally there is an incredibly slim chance that I will be named the next Pope.

Well the white smoke wasn't for me but Cue Card will surely be aimed at the Ryanair or QM next season rather than the GC.

He's just smashed a horse that was close up with the fav in the Gold Cup, by NINE lengths, he loves the track, jumps beautifully and will be a perfect 8 years old next year

Have a crack at the Gold Cup fellas ffs, you may never ever train a horse good enough even to run in it let alone have a chance of winning

Well done all those who kept the faith. As predicted,jockey let no-one down.Fantastic performance from whole Tizzard team,currently third in the Cheltenham trainers'championship.Judorick,your confidence has been comforting over the past months. Perhaps we can now be reconciled that the jockey can do a job on this wonderful horse.

Well played Judo, your confidence in the horse was justified!

it was not difficult to see though GCW if you looked at it without prejudice, form lines with SS and BW made it look well clear and it was in the - end 9 lengths!!

woods and trees for some though even though it was explained pretty clearly

Budd....even better than Al Ferof?

Well i am pretty sure they will give him another go at 3m,and this time hopefully they will do it on decent ground,and give the horse every chance.

Well yes right now he is,Alf is injured and has not had the chance to progress from the paddy power.
He needs to prove himself when he gets back.
Dont stop him being a fav of mine though,and hes one i will always have on my side at Cheltenham.

What was the ground like today? Was it gd/sft as advertised?

well we get to see him up against Sprinter Sacre on Friday

as much as a fan as I am of Cue Card I have him at least 14lbs behind

in fact my peak number calculations have the Monster 20lb clear

should have run in the Bowl, would have gagged up and been one of the favs for the Gold Cup

First Lieut has franked the form of plenty of other horses also. He also made quite a bad mistake at a crucial stage in the Ryanair which possibly had a big bearing on the result.

the reason he made that mistake was coz he was under pressure and couldn't go the gallop

I do think CC would have won the Ryanair if FL had not made the mistake, but the mistake has to be mentioned when weighing it all up, cos its possible it affected him more than some may think, and it certainly did not help him.

Just re-read the whole thread. Perhaps in the light of Cue Card's performances this season, the jockey will be allowed to keep the ride next year? So many on here have given Joe an absolute pasting throughout the season.Well done to Joe who has been outstanding.