Sizing Europe storms to victory in the Tied Cottage Chase
Sizing Europe ran to an impressive victory in the Tied Cottage Chase at Punchestown in Ireland on Sunday, February 5, 2012. He did not allow any other horse to come anyway close to him, winning the race by a staggering 15 lengths.
The 10-year-old horse will now be eying the Champion Chase at Cheltenham in England on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. The big event has attracted 19 runners so far with some very good runners such as Al Ferof and Big Zeb.
Andrew Lynch, who partnered, Sizing Europe at Punchestown, was impressed with the way his horse responded. However, he wants an improvement before the Champion Chase, as there will be a lot of pressure in the upcoming event.
According to Lynch, “He's done it well. He's got a big stride on him but the ground was a little bit tacky for him. He should improve a bit - he hasn't run since the Tingle Creek. That was a savage performance, it's all systems go now for Cheltenham.”
This was Sizing Europe’s ninth victory overall in chase races. He has entered 15 of them, and has never fallen out of the top three even once. Other than his victories, he has four runners up positions, and a couple of third place finishes to his name.
Due to this, the bookmakers had plenty of faith in the veteran horse and awarded him the starting price of 9 to 10.
The closest rival for Sizing Europe in yesterday’s race was, Big Zeb, who failed to make an impression. The runner up horse got off to a decent start, but kept on losing ground to the winner towards the end.
Colm Murphy, trainer of the runner up horse, was disappointed with the result at Punchestown. He was expecting a tough competition in the event, but the race turned out to be absolutely one sided.
Dejected at the loss of his horse, Murphy stated, “They went a proper gallop on heavy testing ground, hopefully we'll be better for it. We never knew he'd go on testing ground that was always a worry.”
Big Zeb has 11 chase victories to his name out of 22 starts.
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