Jump jockey Joe Tizzard has announced that he is retiring as a professional rider.

Tizzard, who mainly rode for his father Colin, has made the decision at the age of 34 to step away from the position.

The Grade One-winning rider was due to have two rides at Newbury on Friday, but has opted to leave the saddle following a career, which included an association with leading steeplechaser Cue Card.

"He just decided this morning that he was going to stop," Sporting Life quotes Colin Tizzard as saying. "We've got a lot of horses in and that's his future. Everyone has been waiting for it for a long time and when you start thinking about stopping, you've just got to stop.

"If Cue Card had been going to Aintree I'm sure he wouldn't have stopped now, but he has. He'll be helping me and it's great he has finished in one piece."

Cue Card won the Ryanair Chase in last year's Cheltenham Festival.