CHELTENHAM, England (AP) — Sizing Europe outlasted reigning champion Big Zeb to power to victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival on Wednesday.
The 10-1 shot hit the front midway through the two-mile run and stayed on well to win the day’s standout race by five lengths, with Big Zeb (3-1) second and Captain Cee Bee third in an Irish 1-2-3.
Two-time winner and favorite Master Minded stumbled at the second-to-last fence.
Sizing Europe jockey Andrew Lynch says the 9-year-old “traveled really well” and he was “afraid something might just quicken past me up the straight, but he’s a hardy boy.”
