Cue Card's final appearance at the Cheltenham Festival will be in the Ryanair Chase, his trainer Colin Tizzard confirmed.
"We've discussed it and we thought he was in very good form over two-five, he has won the Ryanair, and the Gold Cup is a hard race and the best chance of winning is the Ryanair," said Tizzard.
"It was not a hard decision in the end. Our heads are ruling our hearts and it's the most obvious race for him and we can concentrate and go straight on into it.
"He is race fit and if we take that form from here to Cheltenham, we will have a chance. Paddy (Brennan) will be on board."
The 12-year-old was a 40/1 winner of the Champion Bumper on his first visit in March 2010 and has been a feature of the Festival since, finishing fourth in the Supreme, second in the Arkle, winning the Ryanair in 2013, and then suffering a heartbreaking fall on his next start there in the 2016 Gold Cup.
Cue Card fell again at Cheltenham last March, after which there were calls for his retirement, but true to form the nine-time Grade One winner bounced back right away to finish second at Aintree.
This season had threatened to amount to little after he fell on his reappearance at Wetherby and finished a 57-length second to Bristol De Mai in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, but Cue Card once more found something from nothing when reunited with Paddy Brennan in the Betfair Ascot Chase.
That effort saw him chase home potential Ryanair Chase rival Waiting Patiently, a 3/1 chance with Sky Bet, who have cut Cue Card to 8/1.
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