A year ago Paul Nicholls was wondering what do with Big Buck’s.

He had just unseated Sam Thomas at the last fence of the Hennessy Gold Cup, having been bang in contention, and then Nicholls came up with what he admitted at the time was the “mad idea” of sending the horse back hurdling.

 The rest, as they say, is history and Big Buck’s extended his winning sequence to five in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury last month. It was not much of a contest because nothing was able to get Big Buck’s out of second gear and, aside from a slight stumble jumping the last flight, Ruby Walsh could have been hauled in front of the stewards for schooling in public were it not for the fact that Big Buck’s beat Lough Derg by seven lengths. 

“How he won that is how he’s been working at home – he just ambles along like that,” Nicholls said. “Physically he’s a different horse to what he was last year. Horses like him and Kauto need a run to sharpen them up. I was a bit nervous if he’d be a bit lazy – you could run him in a seller and he’d only win a length.

“But he’s a bit more mature and he’s done that really nicely. Ability-wise he’s probably as good as anything we’ve got. He doesn’t jump a fence as well as some and while I’ve got Kauto there’s no point. We might try in the future.”

More immediately Big Buck’s is one of 11 confirmed for the Grade One BGC Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot on Saturday. Among his potential rivals is Diamond Harry, a Grade One winner in his novice season, who made an impressive return this season when making light of top weight in a handicap at Haydock Park in November.

That persuaded Diamond Harry’s trainer, Nick Williams, to postpone plans to send the horse novice chasing with a view to a crack at the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and this race should give Williams a fair indication if those aspirations have any validity.  

Alan King’s yard is still taking time to recover from the muscle enzyme problem that has been the cause of his disrupted season so far but he has two possible runners. Karabak was six lengths second to Zaynar in last month’s  Ascot Hurdle, the form of which has been boosted by Zaynar’s follow-up win at Cheltenham on Saturday, and is stepped up to three miles once more while Katchit, the winner of the 2008 Champion Hurdle, would be running at the distance for the first time.

All distances seem to come the same to Lough Derg, won this in 2007, and would be seeking a fourth course win if his trainer, David Pipe, elects to run.

Paul Wheeler