RACING:SIZING EUROPE and Big Zeb will clash in the Boylesports.com Tied Cottage Chase on February 5th.

Both horses ran in the Punchestown feature last season but it was Golden Silver who came out on top for Willie Mullins, with Big Zeb second and Sizing Europe third. Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Sizing Europe was an emphatic winner of the Tingle Creek at Sandown when last seen and the trainer reports him to have taken the race in his stride.

Henry De Bromhead said: “He seems great. He got back from Sandown and was a bit tired with all the travelling so we backed off him for a few weeks which was always the plan and now he’s back working away and seems in good form. I’ve always thought he was a high-class horse but he still surprises us. He seems tougher than he was at first as he showed in the James Nicholson where he was unfortunately just chinned.

“We will go for the Boylesports Tied Cottage Chase at Punchestown and we will go straight to Cheltenham from there.”

Similarly Colin Murphy has been impressed with how his star chaser Big Zeb has come out of his victory in the Dial-A-Bet Chase at Punchestown last time. Murphy said: “We were delighted with the manner in which he came out of the Dial-A-Bet Chase and it’s all systems go for the Tied Cottage Chase and we will see where we go from there.

“He seems in better order this year. Physically his coat looks an awful lot better and an awful lot richer and he seems to be a lot healthier horse. They are all high class again in the division but he’s been there before and he has a bit of experience as well so fingers crossed that he’ll be able to mix it with them.”

Sizing Europe, who is looking for a third consecutive win at the Cheltenham Festival, is the 5 to 2 favourite for the Queen Mother Champion chase, whilst Big Zeb, winner of the race in 2010 and runner-up last season, is the 5 to 1 second-favourite.