Geraghty insists beaten hero Big Zeb not a ‘dodgy jumper'

SOMETIMES the difference between what sporting participants experience and what spectators witness, can vary wildly. So it was at Punchestown yesterday when Master Minded – the so-called invincible two miler – was nearly beaten by a horse which came so close to falling at the last in the Kerrygold Champion Chase.

To some, especially when considering that the vanquished Big Zeb had fallen in both of his last two outings before rooting the last here yesterday, stumbling badly, before being beaten by just a head at the line, the hard facts about the horse would suggest he has difficulty with fences.

Anyone who watched the race from the sidelines was left with the understandable conclusion that the last fence blunder cost him the race. But his jockey, Barry Geraghty, left many mystified when he said he felt the mistake cost the horse dearly, but did not mean he was a bad jumper.