MANY EXPERTS claim to have seen the future of two-mile chasing and its name is Sprinter Sacre, but the old stalwart Sizing Europe proved he still has plenty of life left in him with a gallant success in yesterday’s Boylesports Champion Chase at Punchestown.
There wasn’t anything spectacular about Sizing Europe’s defeat of Realt Dubh in the first day festival feature. Instead of a Sprinter Sacre-like rout, testing ground conditions put a premium on grit and Henry De Bromhead’s star has never been found wanting in the guts department.
Crucially he also wasn’t dealt a bum hand in the racing luck department either yesterday, unlike at Cheltenham where Sprinter Sacre’s stable companion Finian’s Rainbow relieved him of the Queen Mother crown after a last fence debacle that quite possibly robbed Sizing Europe of back-to-back titles.
It must have been a sweet moment for De Bromhead and jockey Andrew Lynch to bounce back to Grade One-winning form, and secure Punchestown’s big two-mile prize at the third time of asking into the bargain.
But both men were typically restrained when invited to indulge in a Cheltenham vindication angle. “We’re not looking back now. We’ll savour this because he’s a horse-of-a-lifetime. These races take so much winning and fair play to Finian’s Rainbow he’s been impressive at Aintree since,” De Bromhead said.
Lynch also played a straight “one of those things” bat yet was understandably elated about securing an eighth Grade One of a hugely successful season.
“It’s great to get one in a year; eight is amazing,” said Lynch. “The going is heavy out there, and it’s going to get worse with the ground opening up.
“But this horse has a massive heart and he really deserved this,” he added.
Sizing Europe needed all that heart too, taking it up from China Rock at the fourth last and being persistently challenged up the straight by his younger rival, Realt Dubh.
Lynch’s ever-increasing reputation for coolness and ability in big races was underlined again by how he let the 8 to 13 favourite go left in front of Realt Dubh before the last and then kept the horse going on the run-in.
“It’s a long straight and he was getting tired at the end of a long season,” the jockey said.
That season has seen Sizing Europe run the distance spectrum from two to three miles and after spectacular displays at Cheltenham and Liverpool by the superstar novice Sprinter Sacre there were inevitable questions about whether or not the Irish horse will up in trip next season.
Both De Bromhead and Lynch didn’t rule out a return to three miles, especially on better ground, but there is also faith in Sizing Europe’s ability to still mix it at the minimum trip.
“You’d like to have another try at the Champion Chase,” Lynch said. “It depends I suppose on how good the Henderson horse [Sprinter Sacre] is. But you wouldn’t mind another crack at the other horse.”
Yesterday’s big-race sponsor goes 6 to 1 about Sizing Europe regaining his Queen Mother crown. The last horse to do that was Moscow Flyer (2003-05), who was parading at the races yesterday.
Despite some dire weather warnings, Punchestown’s Day One festival crowd of 14,345 saw a near five-per cent increase compared to last year’s 13,721.
Tote turnover was down from €746,108 to yesterday’s €698,088. Bookmaker betting also fell from €1,266,120 last year to yesterday’s €993,454
