Fan's strange request prompts Andy Stewart to run Big Buck's in Cleeve Hurdle

Stewart, one of jump racing’s highest-profile owners, has acknowledged that he and his family are currently enjoying that rarest of experiences, racing a horse that is adored by the public.

“We could have taken him for a racecourse gallop somewhere, with 40 or 50 people watching him, but why not bring him out in public, where everybody can see and appreciate him. That’s why we’ve decided to run in the Cleeve Hurdle at Cheltenham on Saturday even though he’ll be 10lb below [in sharpness] what he will be when he goes for his fourth World Hurdle.”

Big Buck’s passed Bula’s landmark of 13 consecutive hurdle wins when landing the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot in December and is now only two short of Sir Ken’s record of 16 straight victories. “Big Buck’s is lazy at home and Paul [Nicholls] wants to keep him fit and sharp. That’s why he was thinking of the racecourse gallop, but this will be a chance for us all to enjoy him,” said Stewart.

Stewart was at Ascot on Saturday to welcome his Tatenen back to the winner’s enclosure after the BetVictor.com Handicap Chase. The eight-year-old had won the race twelve months earlier off a mark of 137 and on Saturday raced off 143. His next major objective will be the John Smith’s Grand National in April.

Tatenen, trained these days by Richard Rowe, has that touch of class about him. After all, he was sent off 4-1 favourite for the 2009 Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham, in which he fell. Stewart’s theory is that you need a horse with a blend of speed and class to win a Grand National.

“The National is actually two races in one – the first over two miles, and the second over two and a half miles. I think he’ll be suited.”

The courageous win of Somersby in the Victor Chandler Chase was fine reward for a chaser who has been amazingly consistently over a variety of distances. Trainer Henrietta Knight, and her husband Terry Biddlecombe, a former champion jockey, received a very warm reception when the gelding returned to the winner’s enclosure. The Ryanair Chase seems the perfect target for him at this year’s Festival.

Oscar Whisky well worth his place against Big Buck's in World Hurdle at Cheltenham Festival

"My instinct is that he’ll get three [miles]. You saw what happened when we went an extra half-mile at Cheltenham and it’s only another three furlongs in the World Hurdle.

“Of course we bump into Big Buck’s, which is daunting. But he has the speed to travel with Big Buck’s and if the stamina holds out, then we’ve as good a chance as anything of getting near him.

"But let’s get Ffos Las out of the way before we make too many decisions.”

As Henderson pointed out, it was not until Big Buck’s beat his Punchestowns, firstly in the Cleeve Hurdle and then the World Hurdle, that people realised quite how good he was.

“Punchestowns was a very good stayer, but he’d never have finished third in a Champion.”

Trainer Martin Lynch has ruled Oscar Time, last season’s Grand National runner-up, out of this year’s race after the 11 year-old developed a tendon injury.

The gelding very nearly completed a Gold Cup-Grand National double for his amateur rider Sam Waley-Cohen, who said: “It just reminds you to make the most of the good days.”

Tom George believes Baby Mix can enhance his Triumph Hurdle claims on Cheltenham Festival Trials day

“The way Saturday’s race is looking,” said George, “there will be a complete reshuffle in the Triumph betting afterwards, one will be halved in price and the others will be doubled!

“Baby Mix wasn’t far off Listed class when running on the Flat and was working and schooling well and showing us all the right signs before he ran [in December]. In fact his jumping was so good that we schooled him over fences a few times to make him realise it’s not quite so easy.

“Hopefully, he won’t need another run before the Triumph after Saturday. He has had plenty of experience on the Flat and we took the view that he ran well fresh in December. He’s where we want him at the moment.”

George is assembling a good little team for the Cheltenham Festival in March. The progressive Sivola de Sivola, a comfortable winner at Newbury last time, will be one of his more fancied runners when he lines up for the Pertemps Final and hopes in the yard will be similarly high for Olofi in the County Hurdle. He is much improved this season and was travelling really well when falling two out in a hot race at Newbury recently.

My Inheritance has shown a lot of speed and is unbeaten in two bumpers. He will take his chance in the Festival Bumper.

George will also be hoping that Module shows enough when he makes his British debut in Saturday’s concluding two-mile handicap hurdle to warrant inclusion in the team for March.

“We ran him in two £60,000 races at Auteuil and he was the only horse we had which wasn’t placed, but he was a bit unlucky both times.

“The first time he jinked at the last and the next time he was brought down at the last when he would probably have been second to Ozamo, the highest-rated four-year-old in France so he was very unlucky not to bring some money back. He’s a nice horse.”

Fascinators fail to clear Ascot's fashion hurdle

It's goodbye to minidresses and sheer tops at Ascot, while the fascinator has been excluded from the Royal Enclosure.

BY Lisa Armstrong | 18 January 2012

The fascinator - the fluttery wisp of millinery so easily mistaken for a stray pigeon feather - has been dealt a blow.

The Daily Telegraph has obtained an advance copy of Ascot's new dress code, from which we discover that fascinators will, from this year, be exiled from the Royal Enclosure.

In pictures: Mad hats at Royal Ascot

While Sloanes and Wags digest this, they might as well know that the organisers, together with a panel of fashion experts, have also scrutinised hemlengths, necklines and men's morning dress.

The result is a new set of edicts that are more explicit than the old, fuzzy variety. Previously, for instance, women were advised that miniskirts were considered unsuitable.

The new advice, that "dresses and skirts should be of modest length defined as falling just above the knee or longer" leaves far less room for slippery manoeuvre.

Anyone who has come away from the Royal Enclosure reeling at the expanse of cleavage and thigh will rejoice. Others will mourn its passing. But we can all unite in a new national pastime - debating when is a fascinator a headpiece?

Fashion hits at Royal Ascot

The answer, according to Ascot, is when it's attached to "a base of four inches or more". Or put another way, before she was HRH, Kate Middleton wore fascinators. Now she wears headpieces. A diplomatic incident in which the Duchess of Cambridge is barred from the Royal Enclosure is thus happily averted.

Trainer Alan King sticking to tried and tested formula as he aims for victory at Triumph Hurdle

Even in a changing world, the fundamentals remain the same, and the good trainer uses judgment based on experience to keep getting results.

Take Alan King as an example. King, who boasts an extensive owner base that is the envy of the jumping game, knows what is required to win the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March. He has already saddled two winners of the four-year-old hurdling championship, so is fully qualified to offer an informed opinion on the subject.

When King announced at Taunton last Friday that he felt he had a particularly strong hand in the four-year-old ranks this year, it was the signal to sit up and take notice. Grumeti - who came off the Flat from Michael Bell’s yard - had hacked up against older opposition at the West Country track to attract a quote of 14-1 for the Triumph, while the next day Vendor worked hard for a determined win at Newbury and was priced up at 25-1 generally.

Then on Monday, in front of a holiday crowd of 3,000 at Plumpton, it was the turn of the French import Balder Succes to post another four-year-old victory for the Barbury Castle trainer. The gelding, who had won his only previous start, at Auteuil in October, drew clear to win by eight lengths at odds of 4-9.

The victory certainly added weight to King’s theory that he has a strong bunch of four year-olds, but the trainer was not committing Balder Succes to any target just yet. “He’s a very likeable horse, but I don’t think he’s a Triumph Hurdle horse. He didn’t run on the Flat, and he may not have enough experience for that type of race,” he explained. Again, King had pitted the four year-old against older opposition.

Assessing his strong hand at the moment, King added: “Grumeti is likely to run again at Cheltenham at the end of the month, while I think Vendor is very good, as well. He’s got a lot of scope.”

As mentioned above, trainers’ habits die hard. King, who won the Plumpton/Cheltenham bonus with Voy Por Ustedes six years ago - the bonus is now £60,000 - is trying to repeat that feat with Kumbeshwar, who romped home by 16 lengths in a novice chase at the Sussex track on Monday. The bonus is paid to any horse who wins a chase at Plumpton before going on to win at the Cheltenham Festival in the same season. In other news, King believes Invictus had a valid excuse for his defeat in the Dipper Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham on Sunday.

The six year-old was never travelling with his usual fluency and it later transpired that he had lost a shoe.

“Invictus lost a shoe and was quite sore afterwards, and, while I hate making excuses, I am sure that he is better than that,” said King.

“He never travelled like he can and could not get into a rhythm.”

Philip Hobbs believes Colour Squadron is ideal type for Sandown's Tolworth Hurdle

Hobbs hat gewaltige Kraft in seine Hürdenläuferin Reihen und mit der viel versprechende Farbe Squadron schon bewertet 141, die Wallach ist nur offiziell 4 lb unterlegen, was wahrscheinlich seinen Chef Rivalen, Wells Aussicht auf Paul Nicholls ausgebildet werden, zwei von seinen vier Starts über Sprünge gewonnen hat und letztes Mal wurde eine sehr respektable Vierter, gegen weit mehr Erfahrung, in einem Rennen für die Ladbroke in Ascot.

David Pipe hat Arabische Liga trat für das Rennen, aber es ist wahrscheinlich zu warten, für einen anderen Tag. Arabische Liga, war sehr beeindruckend zu gewinnen, eine schwache bedingte Jockeys Hürde in Taunton letzte Woche und ist jetzt bewertet 136. Er wäre 9LB "schlecht in" mit Aussicht Wells unter Tolworth Bedingungen.

"Er wahrscheinlich nicht ausgeführt werden," sagte Pipe. "Wird es einfachere Optionen für ihn."

Hobbs berichtet auch, dass Menora, Überlebenden einen letzte-Fence-Fehler in Taunton letzte Woche zu gewinnen, in einer zwei-Meilen Anfänger Verfolgungsjagd in Kempton Park auf Jan 14 ausführen festgelegt ist. Der/die Trainerin glaubt, daß die Wallach mehr Erfahrung im Vorfeld Cheltenham, braucht wo er die Arkle als sein Ziel haben. Er wird am besten bei 14-1 für den Wettbewerb Cheltenham festgesetzt.

Cue Card ist ein anderer, der Arkle als seine ultimative Ziel hat. Viel versprechende Chaser Colin Tizzard, eine 12-1 Chance für März, eroberten seine Form mit eindrucksvollen Stil in Newbury am Samstag. Er verlor seinen Weg etwas seit seinem Debüt erfolgreich Jagd bei Chepstow Oktober, aber am Samstag Beweise hat er eine glänzende Zukunft.

"Er ist gekommen, das Rennen ganz gut und ich war begeistert von ihm", sagte Tizzard.

"Er kommen zurück auf die minimale Reise jetzt und die Arkle sieht das Rennen zum Ziel mit ihm. Sie gehen mit Hochdruck daran, so dass es fast wie ein zwei-und-ein-Hälfte-Meile Rennen sowieso.

"Ich könnte mir vorstellen, dass er nur werde man mehr ausgeführt werden, bevor Cheltenham und es rund um die Ende Januar, Anfang Februar werden. Das bedeutet, dass er fünf läuft über Zäune vor Cheltenham, gehabt haben werde, was genug Erfahrung für ihn sein sollte."

Die Lingfield "Donnerstagstreffen" muss eine Inspektion Vormittag überleben. Die Strecke ist raceable und Beamten hoffen des Rennsports. Allerdings Aussichten für Freitag Karte bei Chepstow sind weiterhin in der Bilanz und die Stewards werden heute Morgen überprüfen. Bangor Stufe wird ein Hürden und Stoßfänger nur Karte am Freitag nach dem Verzicht auf der beiden geplanten Rennen über Zäune.

Nicky Henderson Captain Conan signals a bright future with the victory of Sandown Park Tolworth hurdle jump

It took the House by a short head in some respects that a lucky victory was bad in the final as finalist Squadron color threw his luck far by hanging. But the result can be found in the years to come as a very brilliant career start.

"It seemed, was a fun starting point, but there is method is, said Henderson later." It is a horse of very, very talented, but it is a Dragonfly. "" I expect that I shall this course be featured yet somewhere [Cheltenham]. "

The biggest surprise was the starting price. Previously mentioned despite him, Captain Conan, ridden by Barry Geraghty, led in the Paris on the course and 9-1 was sent.

There was a difference of 13 lengths magnificent third star, with which wells a tame fourth views. Owner Graham Wylie said that the Paul Nicholls trained Fontaine Vista probably had the effects of his final race. "It was a more difficult version, no doubt that we thought [threshold] Ladbroke at Ascot," Wylie said.

Nicholls and Wylie had previously combined the 32Red handicap Chase quickly hold under a confident ride from Ruby Walsh victory. The eight years won seven lengths all for free, with a short head to tanks for the third.