Big Bucks

Tom Scu put it very well when he said they tried every trick to try and beat BB but never succeeded, finishing runner up to him 10 or so times.
I was at Cleeve Hurdle in 2009 and thought Punchestowns at levels would reverse placings over 3 miles. How wrong could I have been ?
An amazing horse .
 
chroniclandlord said:
To be fair Ardross there are a hell of a lot of us Irish lads praising Big Buck's and his outstanding record.
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I know and 95% of Irish contributors approach matters objectively but there is unfortunately a tiny minority where green tinted glasses affect everything .
 
Right now I couldn't give a **** about the relative merits of what Big Buck's beat. All I know is he was a fantastic racehorse, with those little quirks of character that mark out the special ones. I was lucky enough to see him in the flesh several times and had some great days racing watching him.

I hope he has a long and healthy retirement with Rose, and I hope he gets a race named after him - the Aintree race would be the perfect candidate.
 
HawkWing said:
What made Big Bucks great was that you got the feeling that Inglis Drever or Baracouda would have had their work cut out to beat him. And any other staying hurdler. He had the lot and always finished with real power. A top horse of that quality could have allowed us to really see what he had.
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It doesn't appear that he will be staying at Ditcheat permanently if this quote from Nichols today is correct

I must pay tribute to the superb work Rose Loxton did with the horse here day-in, day-out - he knew he was good and wasn't the easiest on occasions - and he will now stay in the yard for the rest of the season, as if in training, and cantering as per usual.

He will then spend the summer here in a field as he normally does, before we make plans for his retirement home.

But, before then, I suspect that you will see him parading at Sandown on the final day of the season. And hopefully he will remain, for many years to come, a public horse.

And one not easily forgotten.
 
His defeat of Mighty Man at Aintree was probably his best performance purely on ratings but he did it with relative ease. After that he never needed to run to that figure until his injury.

He's the best staying hurdler I've ever rated.

I just wonder how his career might have gone had he won that Hennessy!
 
Big Bucks best performance for me was when he beat punchestowns at cheltenham , he was the best horse he has beaten.

When he won at Aintree beating mighty man , the later run 9 pounds below his best.

Big Bucks was a great horse but i dont rate him better than baracouda or limestone lad.
 
granger said:
If people cannot see that lord Windermere is the best horse since Arkle they are clearly anti-irish
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:lol:


I know and 95% of Irish contributors approach matters objectively but there is unfortunately a tiny minority where green tinted glasses affect everything .
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I dare say some people's rose tinted glasses provide a different view of the world to mine. They seem sharper, for example, at picking up jockey ineptitude.


Joking aside, Big Bucks was a top, top horse, very special indeed as Cruella says, and handsome with it. I always hated the apostrophe though.
 
sunybay said:
Big Bucks best performance for me was when he beat punchestowns at cheltenham , he was the best horse he has beaten.

When he won at Aintree beating mighty man , the later run 9 pounds below his best.

Big Bucks was a great horse but i dont rate him better than baracouda or limestone lad.
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I dont think he truly stayed 3m. Or more precisely, was better over shorter on softer. It was very quick at Cheltenham the year he lost. Think over 3m Big Buck's would have had him easily enough.
 
Big Buck's was a top staying hurdler in every respect - and we probably never quite got to the bottom of him either.

I'd say he was pretty-much peerless, with two small caveats:

Baracouda would probably have been a half-stone better if he'd been ridden by a top jockey, and would have pushed BB close even under Wee Terry. Also, on soft ground, I think Limestone Lad would have put the shitters right up him (though his running-style would maybe set things up for BB).

That's about it in terms of challengers, imo. Big Buck's would quite easily have accounted for the likes of Iris's Gift and Inglis Drever.
 
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Jesus, Limestone Lad would have just given Bucks a nice lead.
Baracouda a cracking horse but Drever would have his number any day of the week around Cheltenham.

Bucks is in different league to them all.
 
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