Luke Harvey to take the reins as Cue Card makes Kempton cameo

Cue Card will return to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs when he leads the parade ahead of the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton.

Trained by Colin Tizzard, the popular chaser was partnered by Paddy Brennan when beating Vautour in a scintillating running of the Sunbury track’s Christmas feature in 2015.

But this time around it is ITV and Sky Sports Racing pundit – and former jockey – Luke Harvey who will be in the saddle of the nine-times Grade One winner as Kempton and the race sponsors look to restart a tradition that saw four-times King George hero Desert Orchid annually lead the runners to post ahead of the Boxing Day contest.

“Simon Clare (PR director at Ladbrokes Coral) was reminiscing with the Kempton Park team about the old days when Desert Orchid and Colin Brown used to lead the field out for the King George after he’d retired and he had the idea to revive it for this year’s King George,” said Harvey.

“I didn’t know any of this of course and (clerk of the course) Brian Clifford rang me up asking whether I’d be up for riding Cue Card and leading the field down. I’m working for ITV so I had to ask them, but they were more than happy to let me do it.

“I’m going to lead the King George field past the stands and to a post where me and Cue Card will then slip onto the hurdles track and then I’m going to do what I’d normally do for ITV and talk about the field while on the horse – provided he behaves well enough!

“Joe Tizzard sent me a video of him in the field going absolutely loopy and bucking and rearing, so I hope he’s well behaved! I don’t want to fall off and break where my collarbone should be!

“I’ve obviously seen him loads but I’ve never ridden him, so I’m really excited and it’s a really nice thing to do. I ride out most days on my point to pointer, so I’m hoping I’m match fit!

“I believe I’ll be in the famous Bishop colours too, so it should be a really nice touch provided I don’t fall off! It’s a wonderful advert for the retraining of racehorses and it’s lovely for racegoers to have the opportunity to see past stars.”