After the heart-warming success of Sprinter Sacre on Wednesday, Cue Card landing a £1 million bonus in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup is surely too much to ask for.
Trained by the affable Colin Tizzard, ably assisted by his former jockey son Joe, and ridden by Paddy Brennan, he is carrying plenty of goodwill.
Having won the Champion Bumper as a four-year-old and the Ryanair at seven, symmetry suggests he is due another Festival win at the age of 10.
His task was seemingly slightly eased as last year's champion Coneygree is missing through injury, while Vautour was rerouted to the Ryanair Chase, but the likes of Don Cossack, Don Poli, Smad Place and last year's runner-up Djakadam still stand in his way.
Winner of the Betfair Chase at Haydock and the King George, Cue Card is in line for a £1 million windfall if he can bring up the big-race hat-trick.
"Cue Card's three wins this season have put paid to all the doubts about his stamina. For the last two years, we have not got to Cheltenham with him," said Tizzard.
"Last year, about three weeks before Cheltenham, he could not get up the gallop. One day he was fine, the next day he wasn't. He had a trapped epiglottis - it was like having a golf ball trapped in his throat.
"In desperation last season, we put a tongue-tie on him but that did not make any difference. (After his operation) he came back in this season looking a million dollars and from the first time we ran him, he has just been very good.
"He has been good all season and he is still brilliant now - he looks like a staying chaser. It took all of Kempton's three miles for him to get there - that is what Paddy Brennan said.
"It was outstanding when he won the Champion Bumper (at the Festival in 2010) as a four-year-old. I had an argument with Joe (son) - I said 'you have got to hold him up' and he said 'I am not doing that'. I said he had to.
"We held the horse up for half the race and then Joe could not hold him after that. Cue Card ran away with the Champion Bumper. He ran away with the Ryanair (Chase in 2013).
"He is absolutely brilliant at the moment and is the horse of a lifetime.
"If I could win the Gold Cup, it would be the pinnacle of training - it would last forever. The money (including the £1-million bonus) is fantastic and a lovely idea for the stable staff, the owners and everybody else. Money goes, doesn't it - I can pay off part of my mortgage and it will be gone.
"The Gold Cup is the best race - it may not be the biggest, the Grand National is, but for me it is the best."
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