The Big Question: Can Big Buck’s Win a Fifth World Hurdle?

The Big Question: Can Big Buck’s win a fifth World Hurdle?

The former World Hurdle winner was beaten in the Cleeve Hurdle but he showed enough to suggest a fifth victory is within his grasp.

Trainer Paul Nicholls suffered a setback on the opening day with the disappointing run of Irving in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. He still has several big guns to fire this week including Silviniaco Conti in the Gold Cup and Calipto in the Triumph Hurdle.

His big hope for Thursday is Big Buck’s who leads a four-pronged attack by the stable on the World Hurdle. Last year’s runner-up Celestial Halo and the consistent Zarkandar and Salubrious make up the Ditcheat quartet.

Big Buck’s winning sequence of 18 consecutive races finally came to an end in the Cleeve Hurdle when he was just run out of in the closing stages by Knockara Beau and At Fishers Cross. The race sparked controversy with many pundits feeling that Sam Twiston-Davies hit the front too soon on a horse that had been off the course for a lengthy period.

Nicholls was quick to defend his jockey and is convinced that it was a combination of the heavy ground and race fitness. He believes that the ground from the last flight was barely fit for racing and felt that Big Buck’s may well have held on but for that. Read more here

NYK Media, www.horsesgalore.co.uk