COLIN Tizzard remains upbeat about the prospects of William Hill King George VI favourite Cue Card at Kempton next week – despite revealing that some of his string have been under the weather.

Last season’s Ryanair Chase hero may have disappointed in the Christmas showpiece 12 months ago, but he staked a strong claim to putting the record straight when making all the running to win the Betfair Chase at Haydock, progressing from his seasonal reappearance which saw him finish third in the Haldon Gold Cup at Exeter.

Cue Card is the 5-2 market leader with the sponsors, and Tizzard, pictured, enthused about his horse’s prospects at a William Hill-organised media day on the gallops at his Dorset yard, being of the view the flat Sunbury circuit is to his advantage.

“I would think the others have got to improve to beat him, but our horse has to be on his game,” he said.

“I don’t think he had a hard race at Haydock, but any of the first three or four (in the betting) could win. Three miles round Kempton will play to his strengths.”

But Tizzard did reference the form of his string as he told Racing UK: “We have had a bug about and there’s no two ways about it, that we will have a few more.

“It doesn’t last long in the good ones – they have it for two or three days and get over it. The bad ones it seems to stay with them for a few weeks.

“Of the 70 horses we have got, we’ve only got two coughing right now so it is not that bad.

“He may have had it at Devon (Exeter). I’m not saying that he did, but you never know.”