Grands Crus vs Big Buck’s in the World Hurdle
One of the most eagerly awaited head-to-heads this year at the Cheltenham Festival is the one that will take place in the World Hurdle where a few short months ago it looked as though Big Buck’s would be strolling to another title.
His chasing career was brought to an abrupt halt when he unseated Sam Thomas at the last in the 2008 Hennessey Gold Cup, but since then he has reigned supreme amongst the ranks of staying hurdlers sending all challengers packing. He’s now won his last 10 races and the ante-post lists behind his name were looking like a list of his previous challengers all of whom had been sent packing before, some more than once.
So all appeared plain sailing until the emergence this season of the David Pipe trained Grands Crus and he is very much on track for his match-up with Big Buck’s. The credentials of the reigning champion are there for all to see but what of the new kid on the block can he topple the reigning champion and give us a new title holder and the World Hurdle betting suggests it should be a very close race.
Grands Crus hurdle race record now reads 2-1-2-1-1-1, with two of those victories coming around Cheltenham, so the course will hold no fears for him. It must be said that he is improving rapidly, having first won a handicap of a mark of 126, the handicapper has being playing catch-up ever since, subsequent marks of 132 and 158 not being enough to stop him. Now rated 169 that mark puts him within 5lbs of Big Buck’s who is still rated the best staying hurdler on a mark of 174, but the betting tips suggest the newcomer could soon take that crown.
It was Grands Crus’ victory in the Cleeve Hurdle which catapulted him into this position and what was most eye-catching about that display was the devastating burst of speed and power that he showed between the third and second last, totally dominating the race at that point. Horses that can dominate a section of a race like that usually have that extra notion of “class” and that is what Grands Crus supporters will be hoping he can repeat.
Nobody can say for certain that Grands Crus can topple Big Buck’s, but nobody can say he can’t and their respective prices are probably still too far apart. The Ladbrokes World Hurdle looked a one horse race now it looks a fascinating head-to-head. Big Buck’s has been beating up most of his ante-post rivals for some time now, let’s see how he handles Grands Crus.
