led, pressed from 2 out, driven and stayed on flat, headed towards finish, rallied
chased leader, mistake 2nd, mistake and lost 2nd 6th, weakened soon after 4 out, blundered 3 out, tired when fell last
rear, hit 4th and 5th, lost touch 8th, soon tailed off, left poor 3rd last
raced inside, went 2nd 6th, challenged from 2 out, upsides and jumped left last, switched right flat, driven and stayed on to lead towards finish
Nonrunner
Nonrunner
Big Buck's can win this at the expense of Barbers Shop and Kawagino. The selection gets the weight concession being a four year old and has Grade 2 hurdle form in France. He looks the ideal horse to take a race of this nature and if jumping round will take some beating. Barbers Shop won of a mark of 116 at Southwell in the summer and could be an interesting recruit to the bigger obstacles. But on in the context of this race he will need to raise a personal best performance if he is to win on his chase debut. Kawagino was a top rated hurdler on his day but is yet to win over fences after three attempts. He ended up on the deck last time at Plumpton so confidence may well be affected so is to be treated with caution at a track that takes no prisoners. So for the winner we return to Big Buck's.
Barbers Shop 8-13fav (11-6) Made all, ridden between last 2, 2 lengths clear last, hung right and kept on flat, won at Southwell 2m 1f hdl (4) gd in Jun beating Mister Benedictine (11-3) by 2l, 12 ran.
Overlut (FR) 9-2 (11-1) Led, joined 4th, not fluent 5th, headed approaching 3 out, beaten and 6 lengths adrift when hit 2 out, 3rd of 4, 15l behind Battlecry (11-1) at Wetherby 2m beg chs (4) gf in Nov.
Premiership (IRE) (11-0) Raced in 4th, effort and one pace from after 2 out, 5th of 6, 11l behind La Chartreuse (10-12) at Pont De Vivaux 2m 2f hdl in Nov '06.
Big Buck's (FR) 11-2 (10-6) Early mistakes, headway and every chance last, not pace of winner, 2nd of 11, 2l behind Good Bye Simon (10-6) at Auteuil 2m 3f 4yo hdl Grd 1 (1) in Jun.
Kawagino (IRE) 11-4 (10-12) Tracking leaders and close up when fell 5 out in race won by Roll Along (11-1) at Plumpton 2m 4f nov chs (3) gs in Nov, 5 ran.
Oakley Absolute 16-1 (10-4) Mid-division, headway approaching 4th, ridden and weakened approaching 2 out, 6th of 18, 14l behind Jam Packed (11-10) at Towcester 2m amt hcp hdl 0-100 (4) gd in Oct.
William Bonney (IRE) 4-1 (11-0) Held up, headway to track leaders 7th, chased winner next, driven and effort 3 out, no extra final 100 yards, 2nd of 6, 3l behind Pauillac (10-7) at Lingfield 2m beg chs (4) gd in Nov.
