Big Zeb | |
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Sire | Oscar |
Grandsire | Sadler's Wells |
Dam | Our Siveen |
Damsire | Deep Run |
Sex | Gelding |
Foaled | 13 May 2001 |
Country | Ireland |
Colour | Bay |
Breeder | Lyle Buttimer |
Owner | Patrick Joseph Redmond |
Trainer | Colm Murphy |
Record | 33:13-11-3 |
Earnings | £813,797 |
Major wins | |
Swordlestown Cup Novice Chase (2008) Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase (2008, 2010, 2011) Fortria Chase (2009, 2010, 2011) Tied Cottage Chase (2010) Queen Mother Champion Chase (2010) Punchestown Champion Chase (2011) |
|
Awards | |
Irish Horse of the Year (2010) |
Big Zeb (foaled 13 May 2001) is a retired, Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in National Hunt racing and was best known for his performances in steeplechases over the minimum distance of two miles. He was slow to mature and made little impact in bumpers and hurdle races before being switched to chasing and winning the Swordlestown Cup Novice Chase in 2008. In the following season he won the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase but fell twice in five races. He reached his peak in the 2009/2010 season when he won the Fortria Chase and the Tied Cottage Chase before defeating a strong field to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. He won the Fortria Chase and the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase again in the next season and rebounded from a defeat in the Queen Mother Champion Chase to win the Punchestown Champion Chase. He won both the Fortria Chase and the Paddy Power Dial-A-Bet Chase for a third time in the autumn of 2011 but developed injury problems and failed to win in his remaining five races. He was retired in January 2013, having won thirteen of his thirty-three races.
Big Zeb is a bay horse with a large white star and white socks on his hind legs bred in Fermoy, County Cork by Lyle Buttimer. He was sired by Oscar, a horse who finished second to Peintre Celebre in the Prix du Jockey Club before becoming a leading sire of National Hunt horses. His other major winners have included Lord Windermere (Cheltenham Gold Cup), Rock On Ruby (Champion Hurdle), Oscar Whisky (Aintree Hurdle), Peddlers Cross (Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdle), Black Jack Ketchum (Sefton Novices' Hurdle) and At Fishers Cross (Spa Novices' Hurdle). Big Zeb's dam, Our Siveen, was bought by Buttimer for IR£7,500 in 1989 and produced thirteen foals before her death in 2007: Buttimer described Big Zeb as the "worst looking of the lot". Our Siveen was a great-granddaughter of Rififi, a broodmare whose other descendants included the leading Japanese racehorse Narita Brian.