CUE Card’s dramatic fall in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last season was one of the biggest disappointments in National Hunt racing but he looks set to begin the current campaign with a bang in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby tomorrow.

Colin Tizzard’s durable chaser was in line for a £1million bonus after winning the Betfair Chase at Haydock and scrambling home from Vautour in the King George at Kempton.

His story grabbed the back pages, in no small part due to the fact his connections were not seen as the major players Paul Nicholls and Kauto Star were when they achieved the feat in 2006-07.

But after Cue Card came crashing down in the Gold Cup while looking well set last term, Tizzard believes his stable star is “still at his peak” ahead of his first outing of the new jumps season.

Speaking about Cue Card ahead of the Charlie Hall, he told BBC Sport: “Everything about Cue Card is brilliant – I think he’s still at his peak.

“Now he’s a bit older, we didn’t let him get big and fat (while out at grass). A Premier League footballer wouldn’t go and put on loads of weight and come back and play football – and we rode him after six weeks out in a field to keep an element of fitness.”

Cue Card is as short as odds-on with leading bookmakers to win the Charlie Hall.