Sizing a Champion place by holding Granite up
A YEAR ago, I got the leg-up on Sizing Europe in the Champion Chase. It was my first experience of one of the senior championship races at Cheltenham, if not Sizing’s, and I was thrilled to get him around in one piece, in seventh place. Today, I’ll be aiming to finish a few positions higher on Sizing Granite in the elite two-miler. It won’t be easy as there are three former winners of the race — Dodging Bullets, Sprinter Sacre and Sire De Grugy — in the opposition corner, as well as Un De Sceaux, a deserving favourite. The pace is likely to be hot and my best bet of making the frame may be to hold Sizing Granite up and try and pick a few of them off in the final stages. Sizing Granite’s form ties in with Un De Sceaux’s Arkle form in God’s Own, as we beat God’s Own at Aintree. The ground is drying nicely which will definitely suit and at a big price, I can see Sizing Granite running into a place. I’ve three rides today after Rebecca Curtis booked me for Beast Of Burden in Coral Cup. Paul Townend has won on this horse, who ran in the Neptune Hurdle last year and wasn’t disgraced. He was tried over fences this year, was unseated in one race and fell in another as things went pearshaped. They’ve come back over hurdles, where Paul said he’s a straightforward spin, and I give him a sporting chance off a decent mark. In the bumper, I ride New To This Town, trained by Jessica Harrington, really likes him and she knows what it takes to train the winner of this race, having triumphed with Cork All Star in 2007. The form of New To This Town has worked out as the horse he beat in Thurles has won, and so has the one he beat in Gowran. He has a great temperament for this sort of race and the ground will be a massive help. Overall, he’s my most realistic chance of a first Festival winner, especially the way the Ryanair Chase has turned out as Smashing will have it all to do now with Vautour and Road To Riches in the mix.