After a month when jump racing has been in the grip of freezing temperatures, it was the turn of fog to cause the disruption this time but there was no disguising the authority of Big Buck’s in the Grade One AP Wins Sports Personality Long Walk Hurdle.

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The Grade One AP Wins Sports Personality Long Walk Hurdle was dug out of the snowbound fixture at Ascot two weeks ago and rescheduled for Newbury’s meeting on Wednesday, which itself will require a thaw to disperse what is left of the three inches of snow that has been covering the track.

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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. 

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After the brief respite, when Cheltenham’s International meeting came through unscathed by the elements, what has become an all-to-normal disruption to service resumed when the card at Huntingdon on Sunday was lost due to a frozen track.

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Big Buck’s will be short odds for the Grade One Racing UK Long Walk Hurdle at Newbury, but that does not mean he is without opposition, numerically at least. A field of eight take him on, lead by exciting prospect Diamond Harry.

The two-mile division is regarded as the cream of the crop but, according to the British Horseracing Authority handicap ratings, Big Buck’s is better than any of them – which is not bad for a horse who was only sent hurdling as an afterthought.

That came after he had unseated his rider in last year’s Hennessy Gold Cup and Nicholls decided on the switch partly based on the jumping of Big Buck’s and partly because of the veritable log jam that the trainer has in terms of staying chasers. The horse’s owner, Andy Stewart, is never one to be scared off by the opposition but when the home team is headed up by Kauto Star and Denman, then discretion is the better part of valour.   

The rewards have been an unbeaten run of five, highlighted by his victory in the World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Big Buck’s started this season with a seven-length victory over Lough Derg in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury last month, and he is now rated 5lb better than any hurdler currently in training.

Just how much better Diamond Harry may be than his current assessment of 165 is an open question and he looked impressive when winning a handicap, as the topweight, at Haydock Park last month on his first try at three miles. Diamond Harry was a Grade One winner as a novice however, he does have three and a quarter lengths to make up on Karabak, on their run behind Mikael D’Haguenet in the Ballymore Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, and this race does represent a huge step up in class from handicap company.

The Long Walk was saved from a snow-bound grave when Ascot’s meeting was abandoned 11 days ago and the rescheduling of the Grade One Lexus Chase, which got lost in the fog at Leopardstown yesterday, makes for a game of musical saddles among the jockeys.   

Nicholls already has a stranglehold on the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, with Kauto Star and Denman, and attempts to add to his reserves when he runs What A Friend who will now be ridden by Sam Thomas.

Barry Geraghty was due to ride but has commitments at Newbury today and the same to Ruby Walsh, who will be on Big Bucks, but he had opted to ride Cooldine for Willie Mullins. Cooldine was favourite before betting was suspended but, having not run since April, he may well need the run. What a Friend, a fast-improving six-year-old, may not have been able to handle Denman in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury last month – beaten three and a half lengths in receipt of 22lbs – but there is nothing of that calibre in this field.

The other Grade One race on the card is the Leopardstown Golf Centre December Festival Hurdle for which Solwhit is the favourite but Sublimity beat him by three and a quarter lengths in the “Fighting Fifth” Hurdle at Newcastle last month – when the pair finished second and third to Go Native – and seems to be back to something like his best form following a breathing operation earlier this year.

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