SIZING EUROPE is on course to try to become just the third Irish- trained winner of Saturday’s Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown.
Henry De Bromhead plans to drop the Queen Mother Champion Chase winner back to two miles after a gruelling race at Down Royal earlier this month when runner-up to Quito De La Roque over three miles.
Prior to that, he had won on his seasonal debut at Gowran when taking a Grade Two prize at two and a half. “Sandown is the plan at the moment, he seems in good form and we’ll give it a go,” Co Waterford-based De Bromhead said yesterday.
“It was obviously a fairly tough race the last day but he seems in good form now and we’re happy to let him take his chance at Sandown.
“For the moment we will concentrate on two to two-and-a-half miles, but I wouldn’t rule out going back up to three at some stage, probably on better ground than he had at Down Royal,” he added.
The Grade One event has been farmed by Paul Nicholls in the last half-dozen years with the trio of Kauto Star, Master Minded and the ill-fated Twist Magic all winning the race twice for Britain’s champion trainer. Nicholls intends to be represented by Tataniano on Saturday in a strong home defence.
French apprentice Benjamin Boutin died of injuries yesterday morning following a fall at Argentan in Normandy on Saturday. The 21-year-old was riding Game Of Legs for Pascal Bary in an apprentices’ contest when he was involved in a four-horse pile-up.
