Buck’s team confident star stayer remains at top of game

Proud owner Andy Stewart insists Big Buck’s remains at the top of his game at the age of 11 and expects him to fight all the way in an attempt to regain his stayers’ crown at Cheltenham.

Big Buck’s was the undisputed number one in the three-mile division with four Ladbrokes World Hurdles among a string of 18 successive victories from January 2009 to December 2012, until injury intervened and he was unable to defend his title last year.

Although beaten on his comeback run in the Cleeve Hurdle in January, the Paul Nicholls-trained gelding went down with all guns blazing in third behind Knockara Beau.