Monday 18 October 2010

News On Big Bucks


Champion staying hurdler Big Buck's will follow an identical path to last season.

Owner Andy Stewart has outlined four races with trainer Paul Nicholls for the seven-year-old, who is unbeaten since switching to timber since the Hennessy Gold Cup in 2008.

After starting his season in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury on November 27, he will head to Ascot for the Long Walk Hurdle (December 18). He will then have a break before bidding for a third Ladbrokes World Hurdle at Cheltenham and heading to Aintree in an attempt for a third Liverpool Hurdle.

"He's absolutely fine. He'll run at the Hennessy meeting and then hopefully he'll go to Ascot, which was rained off last year but rearranged at Newbury," said Stewart.

"After that it will be the World Hurdle and then he'll go back to Liverpool. If all goes well until then we will have a sit down and ponder what happens next. We kept him down to the four races last season and that is what we'll do again. There was the option of going to Punchestown but we decided against it."

Stewart's smart chaser Tataniano will start his season at the Paddy Power Gold Cup meeting. The six-year-old, who impressed when winning the Grade One Maghull Novices' Chase at Aintree, will return in the Sinbad Testimonial 2010/2011 Chase at Cheltenham on Sunday November 14.

Nicholls used the race last year as a starting point for Master Minded but he could only finish third behind Well Chief.

"What we'd like to do with Tataniano is start him off in what used to be called the Connaught Chase at Cheltenham," said Stewart.

"After that we hope to be looking at races like the Tingle Creek, which should be quite interesting as obviously there will be the likes of Twist Magic and Master Minded in there as well. We'll give him a little break after that as he always goes better fresh and if he doesn't go well in those two races, he's not a champion chaser, we'll know by then.

"He can only go on good ground and it was a mistake to run him over two and a quarter miles at Newbury when he got beaten but he bounced round quite nicely at Liverpool. I think he'll take very well to going right-handed over the Railway Fences at Sandown."