The short answer is seven. Owned by the late Alan and Ann Potts, Sizing Europe made his Cheltenham Festival debut in 2008 when, following a comfortable 4-length win in the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle the previous November, he was sent off 2/1 favourite for the Champion Hurdle. However, the Pistolet Bleu gelding weakened quickly before the final flight and was virtually pulled up on the run-in, trailing in 101 lengths behind the winner, Katchit; he was later found to have strained the joint between his hind leg and spine, known as the sacroiliac joint.
In 2009, Sizing Europe was denied a chance of redemption by injury. By the time of his next Festival appearance, in 2010, he had made a successful transition to fences, winning his first four starts over the larger obstacles. Sent off 6/1 third favourite for the Arkle Challenge Trophy, the eight-year-old was going easily when left in the lead at the penultimate fence and was driven out to beat the closing Somersby by three-quarters of a length.
Four successive defeats followed but, back at the Cheltenham Festival, in 2011, Sizing Europe made no mistake in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Although only fourth choice in the betting, at 10/1, in a field that included Master Minded and Big Zeb, he led over the final fence and stayed on strongly to win by 5 lengths. Sadly, that was to be his last victory at the Cheltenham Festival.
Sizing Europe was sent off odds-on, at 4/5, to defend his title in 2012, but was beaten 1¼ lengths by Finian’s Rainbow in a driving finish. In 2013, as an 11-year-old, he had no answer to Sprinter Sacre, who cantered clear to win by 19 lengths, and he was beaten again in the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2014 and 2015.
Jockey, or rather former jockey, Eddie Ahern was ‘warned off’ for ten years at the end of May, 2013. Following a hearing of the Disciplinary Panel of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), Ahern was found guilty of (i) conspiring to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice, (ii) intentionally failing to ensure a horse was ridden on its merits and (iii) of passing information for reward.
The charges related to the ‘laying’ of five horses between September, 2010 and February, 2011 – that is, betting against them to win – preventing his mount, Judgethemoment, from achieving the best possible placing in a two-mile handicap at Lingfield on January 21, 2011 and passing information to his co-defendant, former footballer-turned-owner Neil Clement. Clement, himself, was banned for 15 years.
At Lingfield, Judgethemoment led and soon spreadeagled the field but, having set unrealistic fractions, stopped to almost nothing with over half a mile to run and eventually trailed in last of the seven runners, beaten 35 lengths, and 15 lengths behind the sixth horse home. Ahern argued that, while ill-judged, his ride was not a deliberate attempt to lose and, with the support of the Professional Jockeys Association (PJA), appealed the decision accordingly.
The appeal was dismissed, leaving Ahern in a position where he could no longer ride, or enter premises, such as racecourses or training yards, licensed by the BHA or associate with jockeys, owners and trainers, among others, until May, 2023. Champion apprentice in Ireland in 1997, at the time of his ban, Ahern had ridden a total of 1,252 winners on either side of the Irish Sea.
Born in Covington, Kentucky on May 1, 1960, Stephen Mark ‘Steve’ Cauthen arrived in Britain in the spring of 1979 at the invitation of legendary owner and breeder Robert Sangster. Although, by his own admission, not ‘totally comfortable’ with riding on this side of the Atlantic for the first three years, ‘The Kentucky Kid’ rode a winner at the first time of asking at Salisbury on April 7, 1979. Indeed, within a month he had won his first British Classic, the 2,000 Guineas, on Tap On Wood, trained by Barry Hills.
Cauthen first became Champion Jockey in 1984, with 130 winners but, at the start of the 1985 season, left Barry Hills to replace Lester Piggott as first jockey to Henry, later Sir Henry, Cecil. On June 5, 1985, he won the Derby for the first time on Slip Anchor, owned by Lord Howard de Walden. A ten-length winner of the Lingfield Derby Trial, Slip Anchor ‘improved a stone’ between Lingfield and Epsom, according to Cauthen, and had little trouble justifying favouritism in the Derby itself. Four lengths clear at halfway, Slip Anchor went further clear rounding Tattenham Corner and passed the post seven lengths of his nearest pursuer, Law Society.
Two years later, Cauthen won the Derby again, on Reference Point, owned by Louis Freedman, in not dissimilar fashion. Cauthen once again took the race by the scruff of the neck and, although never more than a length or two ahead, the 6/4 favourite bravely repelled challengers, the closest of which proved to be Most Welcome, who threw down a strong challenge in the closing stages. However, when asked for maximum effort, Reference Point drew away again to win by a length and a half.