Death of multiple Grade One winner Cue Card, aged 16

Cue Card, multiple Grade One winner and 2015 King George VI Chase hero, tragically suffered a heart attack on Friday morning.

Trained by Colin Tizzard and owned by Jean Bishop, Cue Card was a dual Cheltenham Festival victor in winning the 2010 Champion Bumper and the 2013 Ryanair Chase and retired in 2017 with a career tally of 16 wins in 41 career starts.

Cue Card was due to lead the parade of this year's King George at Kempton on Monday, but Tizzard's son Joe, who now holds the training licence, announced the death of the hugely popular 16-year-old.

Speaking on behalf of the Tizzard family, he said: "Sadly Cue Card had a heart attack when out for his regular exercise this morning, and died immediately.

"He was an incredible racehorse for Bob and Jean Bishop, and for us all, and there's no doubt that without him coming along when he did, things may have panned out very differently here at Venn Farm, as he was the first top-class horse we had, and he showed people that we could handle these Grade One horses, which led to the likes of Thistlecrack and Native River."