King George VI Chase hero Cue Card tragically suffered a heart attack on Friday morning and died.
Cue Card was due to lead the parade of this year's King George at Kempton Park on Monday, but trainer Colin Tizzard's son Joe, who now holds the training licence, announced the death of the hugely popular 16-year-old.
The popular gelding and son of King's Theatre had 16 wins from 41 races under rules, inlcluding at Cheltenham in the 2010 Champion Bumper and the 2013 Ryanair Chase.
After winning the King George VI Chase and Betfair Chase, Cue Card was highly fancied for the 2016 Gold Cup but fell three fences from the finish.
He returned in the Gold Cup but fell again. His last win was in the Betfair Ascot Chase in February 2017 and he retired the following year.
Trained by Tizzard and owned by Jean Bishop, Cue Card's retirement at the time came early and was "unexpected," according to Bishop.
Speaking on behalf of the Tizzard family, Joe Tizzard said: "Sadly Cue Card had a heart attack when out for his regular exercise this morning, and died immediately.
"He was an incredible racehorse for Bob and Jean Bishop, and for us all, and there's no doubt that without him coming along when he did, things may have panned out very differently here at Venn Farm, as he was the first top-class horse we had, and he showed people that we could handle these Grade One horses, which led to the likes of Thistlecrack and Native River."
