Sizing Europe Takes Chase Victory
In 1959, the Queen Mother Champion Chase was inaugurated and forms part of the annual Cheltenham Festival, hosted by the Cheltenham Racecourse. It is National Hunt Chase, and is a Grade 1 event for horses that are five-years-old or older. There are twelve fences for the horses to cross during this 3 219 meter race. After failing to finish due to a strained back injury during the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2008, Sizing Europe came back on Tuesday, 15 March 2011, to add his name to the list of winners.
The Queen Mother Champion Chase (sponsored by sportingbet.com) always takes place on the second day of the festival. Seeing Sizing Europe return to try again was a proud moment for this trainer, Henry de Bromhead. Sizing Europe came back strong again by winning the Arkle Trophy, and with jockey Andrew Lynch guiding him all the way Sizing Europe won the Queen Mother Champion Chase with a breathtaking performance. At the final bend, Sizing Europe managed to conjure up enough strength and speed to take the victory.
Sizing Europe is owned by Alan and Ann Potts, but de Bromhead confessed that this horse was like a child to him, and he spent every moment he could with him, commenting on his improvement saying: “We always said the King George would be our decision-maker over three miles but when that was cancelled at Christmas, we decided he was proven here over two miles from the Arkle so we might as well go for it. We had a very rough journey back from Kempton and it took a long time to get him right again. He’s really come into himself in the last month.”
Jockey, Andrew Lynch, also commented on Sizing Europe’s performance and instructions given to him by de Bromhead: “Henry said he wanted a strongly-run, two-mile race, and this is the only race all year that suits him.” He went on to say, “He was impressive today, he jumped well and Henry just said to me if they weren’t going quick enough just to get plenty of use out of him.” On his victory, Lynch did comment that he was a little worried turning in, but said that his horse picked up well and delivered a strong victory.
