Last season’s Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Sizing Europe threw down the gauntlet to all those planning to snatch his crown at Cheltenham on March 14 with a devastating demolition of former champion Big Zeb in the Grade 2 Tied Cottage Chase at Punchestown on February 5, writes Elliot Slater.
Bookmakers on course at Punchestown made Sizing Europe a marginal 9/10 favourite, just ahead of even money chance Big Zeb, in the eagerly anticipated first clash of the season between the two outstanding candidates for the two-mile chasing crown at Cheltenham races, and as the betting reflected most observers expected the contest to go down to the wire. With the rank outsider of the three-runner field Imperial Shabra losing touch at half-way it was left to the big two to dominate proceedings, Andrew Lynch on Sizing Europe leading the way being stalked all the while by Robbie Power on Big Zeb.
With only half-a-length between the pair going to the second last it looked as though it would be nip and tuck all the way to the line, but once Lynch asked Sizing Europe to quicken the reigning champion cut loose and powered easily clear of Big Zeb, eventually cruising home to score by 15-lengths. Winning trainer Henry de Bromhead rightly described his winner as having produced a “savage performance” and bookmakers reacted quickly in slashing his ante-post odds for the Queen Mother Champion Chase from as big as 9/4 to a best price 5/4 favourite, making the Ann and Alan Potts-owned gelding amongst the hottest favourites of the whole meeting after the likes of Big Buck’s, Quevega, and Hurricane Fly. Anyone looking ahead to 2012 Cheltenham at Betfair will know he looks to be the one to bear.
Big Zeb, (pushed out from a pre-race 4/1 for Cheltenham to 7/1 in places), was not knocked about after his winning chance had gone and his trainer Colm Murphy will doubtless be running the rule over him to have him spot on to try and take his revenge in the big event.
