Sprinter Sacre has extended his unbeaten record over fences to 10 with victory in the Champion Chase at Punchestown.
Trainer Nicky Henderson admitted Sprinter Sacre needed to dig deeper into his reserves than ever before to add the Irish race to his recent Grade One victories at Cheltenham and Aintree.
Sent off the 1-9 favourite, he was hardly a betting proposition but the expectant atmosphere and glorious reception for a British raider to the Irish party showed what a rare individual the photogenic gelding has become.
Thrashed by 19 lengths in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, Sizing Europe had been successful on his last three visits to the track and jockey Andrew Lynch was keen to capitalise on home advantage by setting off at a searching pace.
Soon the pair had burned off the other three starters and Sizing Europe was flat out, with Barry Geraghty once again sitting on his tail, seemingly ready to inflict another crushing defeat.
The response was not quite as instant, the jumping not quite as spectacular, but Sprinter Sacre edged clear at the penultimate fence to beat his rival by 5-1/2 lengths.
“Job done,” Henderson said.
“Barry said he was at his best at Cheltenham, not as sharp at Aintree and not as sharp today.
“He was 101 per cent at Cheltenham and then to come back and come back takes a very good horse.
“To do all three (Cheltenham, Aintree and Punchestown) is very, very hard and he’s had to work harder today than he has in the past.
“I hope everyone has enjoyed seeing him, that’s why we’re here. We love coming. Ireland is a nation of horse lovers and you feel you owe it to everybody to bring him here.”
Henry de Bromhead was rightly proud of Sizing Europe’s brave performance at the age of 11, while stablemate Days Hotel completed to finish a very distant third.
“I said to Andrew to go and throw the kitchen sink at your man (Sprinter Sacre) and we got him off the bridle, but he’s an incredible horse,” he said.
“At least we saw Barry having to push him out today.”
