Weather may be main threat to Big Buck's

Big Buck's

Can anyone beat Big Buck?s?

The final declarations suggest that the biggest threat to the champion staying hurdler could be an act of God for the BGC Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday.
The field of seven are rated between 20 and 34lbs on official ratings as the seven-year-old attempts to maintain his perfect record over hurdles for Paul Nicholls, which currently stands at nine, since the champion trainer switched him from fences.

Duc de Regniere is the horse most closely rated to Big Buck?s but he proved no match when the pair met last month in the Grade Two Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury, when Duc de Regniere was a three-length second and was receiving 8lbs.

Big Buck's won the race last year when it was switched to Newbury after Ascot was lost to the snow and the current weather forecast has forced the track?s clerk of the course, Chris Stickels, to call an inspection at 7.30am ahead of their two-day fixture which begins on Friday.

?It?s very much a precautionary inspection,? Stickels said. ?We?re absolutely fine as we speak ? the temperatures are six degrees ? but the forecast is for temperatures to drop considerably as the day progresses. A bit of rain is due and then minus four by dawn tomorrow. We?ve got frost covers down and we anticipate everything being fine but, in light of the forecast, I think it would be sensible if we take a look.?

The racecourse executive have done their upmost to ensure that the meeting card goes ahead and have laid down frost covers since last weekend. ?We?re still learning about these covers,? Stickels admitted. ?They will protect to a degree but no-one is sure how much they will protect and it depends on how much grass cover you?ve got and how worn the track is. But we?ve had experience of them in the past and they?ve done a good job at temperatures around minus three.?

If the meeting does escape the worst of the weather the big betting race will the Ladbroke Hurdle, which has a field of 21, led by topweight Get Me Out Of Here. He was among the leading novices of last season, finishing runner-up to Menorah in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, but has failed to fire in two runs this season, which included a course and distance run in October.

The market leader is Aegean Dawn who is unbeaten in four starts, the last of which was a in a handicap at Ascot last month. Nicky Henderson has made no secret of his belief that the five-year-old is a chaser in the making and this race will represent a much stiffer task given that Aegean Dawn has taken a 16lb hike in the ratings.
Henderson also runs Oscar Whisky, who finished fourth in the Supreme Novices', but one horse who will not make the line-up is Tocca Ferro whose trainer, Emma Lavelle, reports him to be lame.

Paul Wheeler

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