When your luck is in – it’s in, and Andrew Lynch’s big-race luck looks set to continue at Gowran today when his old ally, Sizing Europe, targets a hat-trick of victories in the Grade Two feature.
Lynch, who secured a recent Kerry National success when a last-minute booking for the reserve White Star Line, also looks to have good prospects in the final two races of today’s card but as has been the case for much of the jockey’s career, his headline act is Sizing Europe.
The 2011 Champion Chase hero has been a stalwart of the National Hunt scene for the last half-dozen years, and been such a regular participant in top-flight races that there's almost a danger of taking him for granted.
Secured prize-money
But in such an attritional sport, it's important to remember it is over five years since Sizing Europe was a brilliant Irish Champion Hurdle winner, has since won half-a-dozen Grade One prizes over fences, including twice at the Cheltenham Festival, and has secured prize-money of over €1.3 million. And he's back for more this season.
The horse that has provided Sprinter Sacre with his only worthwhile opposition faces seven in the PWC Champion Chase but even entering his veteran years he is clear of them in ratings and trainer Henry De Bromhead believes the horse is in the same sort of form as he was last season. If that's correct, the others are surely running for place money.
“I rode him work last week and he felt great,” Lynch said yesterday. “Last year he won his first four races and was unlucky to come up against Sprinter Sacre in the other two.
"If he picks up another sequence this season I'll be happy."
Big Break
Pat Smullen and Dermot Weld are at Longchamp today where Yellow Rosebud lines up in the Group Two Prix Daniel Wildenstein but it's another of their good fillies, Big Break, that will command their attention in tomorrow's Group Two Concorde Stakes at Tipperary.
Weld has secured this prize in the previous three years, contributing to a remarkable tally of seven wins in the last eight years for fillies in the Concorde.
Big Break's two races this term have been at Group One level and Weld has been targeting tomorrow's race as a comeback point for some time.
Revel Fitz's prolific run over fences looks set to continue in the Grade Three novice chase while decent ground conditions should be ideal for Curley Bill as he attempt to continue his own winning streak in the novice hurdle.
Captain Cullen is hard to catch right but he overcame a less than clear passage to win at Roscommon on Monday and can build on that in the seven furlong handicap.
