LAST YEAR’S ARKLE CHASE winner Sizing Europe has been confirmed for this year’s Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham.

The 9-year-old had also been entered in the Ryanair Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup before trainer Henry de Bromhead decided that his best chance of success lay in the two-mile chase which is the feature event on Wednesday’s card.

The horse has not won in five outings since his success at Cheltenham last year, most recently finishing third behind Golden Silver in the two-mile Tied Cottage Chase at Punchestown at the end of January.

He is currently available at odds of 12/1 for the Queen Mother in a field currently led by Paul Nicholls’ Master Minded (9/4) and Irish chaser Big Zeb (3/1).

Meanwhile, in other horse racing news, the weights for this year’s John Smith’s Aintree Grand National were announced this morning, with last year’s winner Don’t Push It topping the list at 11st10lb alongside Neptune Collonges.

Tidal Bay, Midnight Chase and Deep Purple make up the remainder of the top five weights.

Organisers of the racing showpiece embraced technology in making their announcement this morning, exclusively tweeting the top five weights half-an-hour before the official announcement was made.

At this stage, 34 of the 101 declared entries are trained in Ireland, with some firms offering odds of 9/4 that the winner will be an Irish-trained.

A maximum of 40 horses will go to post on 9 April, with Ballabriggs and Niche Market currently heading the betting at 16/1.