Separating the cattle from the horses has proved a masterstroke for the Dorset trainer,who saddles the main domestic defender in Kempton’s chasing classicOne morning last winter Cue Card went out to exercise at Colin Tizzard’s yard. He did not get far. “He’d cut himself really badly under a fetlock in the King George and been stood in his box for a month,” the trainer says. “Now he couldn’t even canter up the gallop.”On Saturday a tiny less than a year later, or Cue Card will return to the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park as the main British-trained contender and what has happened to the nine-year-former in between tells a story of profound changes in National Hunt racing too. What was once a calm country pursuit is now a fiercely competitive and professional sport. Its elite athletes get the care and attention to match.
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Source: theguardian.com