BRIAN O'CONNOR talks to the Waterford trainer as he sets about rekindling Sizing Europe's career after his injury problems

HENRY DE Bromhead began this decade perfectly and Sizing Europe can put the perfect seal on it if victorious in Leopardstown’s St Stephen’s Day feature.

The 37-year-old Co Waterford trainer took over his father Harry’s training licence in time to have his first ever runner on New Year’s Day 2000 and Fidalus completed the fairytale beginning by winning on the first day of the new millennium.

Since Tramore was the only course able to race anywhere that day due to weather conditions, it meant an unusual amount of attention zeroed in on the rookie trainer at his local track. But since then De Bromhead has got used to the spotlight.

In between landing the 2008 AIG at Leopardstown and the second last flight of that season’s Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, Sizing Europe dazzled as one of those rare “could be anything” horses that can make even the most grizzled sceptic’s heart-rate up a bit.

On the run down the Cheltenham hill it looked as if a new National Hunt benchmark of excellence was just getting warmed-up for a brilliant success. One awkward jump later and it was back to the drawing-board with a bang. Sizing Europe was virtually pulled up, back muscles askew, and his career hanging in the balance.

There followed a year when De Bromhead carefully sorted out those back problems, only for every other kind of niggle to disrupt the entire campaign. It ended though on a high. A wide-margin of success in his first start over fences proved just a taster for this season when the flamboyance of that 2008 spring has been rekindled with enough of a flourish to make Sizing Europe a red-hot favourite for a red-hot renewal of the Grade One Bord Na Mona Chase.

Not surprisingly, however, De Bromhead is spending much of the Christmas run-in trying to keep a lid on expectations. Yesterday his conversation was peppered with phrases like “touch wood” and “not tempting fate” and there was a resolute disinclination towards contemplating the past. “We’ll keep looking forward,” he said, which is hardly surprising, considering what he has to look forward to.

Sizing Europe’s five-strong opposition includes a Cheltenham festival winner in Captain Cee Bee as well as Osana who eventually finished runner-up in that fateful 2008 Champion Hurdle. But even Osana’s trainer, Edward O’Grady, has already conceded that Sizing Europe looks “the best horse around”. There’s no getting away from the reality that De Bromhead’s star is the St Stephen’s Day centrepiece.

“It looks a savage race,” De Bromhead said yesterday. “We picked some year to go novice chasing. You can make a case for nearly all of them.”

What remains clear, if unsaid, is the faith that he retains in a peak form Sizing Europe.

“Last year was frustrating, very frustrating but he seems in great form now. He is a big, scopey horse and we always felt he would be better over fences. He just has to go and prove it now. But he has taken to fences fantastically and he wouldn’t have to improve too much from what he did over hurdles to be very good over fences,” De Bromhead said.

The man in charge of Sizing Europe come 2.20pm on Saturday will be rider Andrew Lynch whose major victories on Notre Pere last season have seen him rise through the pecking order in the jockeys room. What he offers De Bromhead is stability.

“We wanted someone who would give us some consistency and I always liked Andrew as a rider. What helps is that he is also good guy, and a good team player and it has worked out very well for us all this season,” the trainer added.

All it needs now is for Sizing Europe to do what is expected of him.