No Sandown for Cue Card as retirement confirmed

Chasing superstar Cue Card has been retired and will not run his final race at Sandown Park on the closing day of the jump season (28 April).

His connections, owner Jean Bishop and trainer Colin Tizzard, have changed the plan for the popular 12-year-old gelding, deciding to call a day on his career which provided a rollarcoaster of emotions for racing fans over an eight-year period.

The decision emerged from team Tizzard this morning (Tuesday, 17 April) after Cue Card didn’t work to his full ability on the gallops. However, he will still parade for fans during Sandown’s finale.

“We’ve taken the decision this morning to retire Cue Card. He wasn’t working quite as well as he can and we didn’t want to take him to Sandown if we weren’t 100% happy with him,” the trainer’s son and assistant trainer, Joe Tizzard confirmed to Racing Post.

“We will still take him to Sandown to parade him and to celebrate a great career. He has been an incredible horse for us and now he can look forward to a new chapter in his life.”

Joe rode Cue Card to success in his early career, after the gelding made his racecourse debut in 2010. The pair went on to triumph at the 2013 Cheltenham Festival in the Ryanair Chase and win the 2013 Betfair Chase at Haydock, before Joe retired from the saddle.

The son of King’s Theatre became a much-loved horse among racing fans following his Betfair Chase and King George VI triumphs under his regular jockey Paddy Brennan, who described him as a “legend”.

“It’s been a rollercoaster with Cue Card. He’s a legend — I got on him quite late in his career and he’s given me some great days. I couldn’t have asked any more from him and it’ll be very hard to find another one,” said Paddy, paying tribute to the special gelding on The Jockey Club’s Love The Jumps podcast.

The jockey partnered Cue Card to six of his career wins, including two Grade One Betfair Chases and the 2015 King George VI Chase. The pair’s final run was at the Cheltenham Festival this March in the Ryanair Chase, in which Cue Card pulled up.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now