Big Buck's Set for Aintree Bid

Living-legend Big Buck's is set for his next major date at Aintree as he bids for the 2012 iteration of the Liverpool hurdle next Thursday. He is expected to maintain his unbelievable winning streak of 16 long-distance hurdles races and is, once again, set to go off at a very short price. He was made to work a bit at Cheltenham but still got the job done and, according to connections, didn't have much taken out of him from the effort.

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR FREE BET WITH WILLIAM HILL!

Speaking to the media at a presser on Tuesday, it was made clear that"Big Buck's has been absolutely fine," Stewart said.

"Obviously he had a race at Cheltenham as they all did, but there have been no problems at all. He's never been beaten at Liverpool because he ran in a chase race the year before he won his first Liverpool Hurdle but I wouldn't say he is better at Aintree as the fields he's been facing there haven't been as strong as at Cheltenham."

The biggest name so far confirmed to face Big Buck's is likely to be Celestial Halo, who put in a bad shift in the Champion Hurdle to finish a tame 9/10 when sent off at a lengthy 50/1 price tag. His 2011/12 season had been setting up quite nicely prior to that and switching him over to a course that might suit him a little more certainly puts him in contention for place money.

Even from an arbitrary perspective, Celestial Halo doesn't have the form to beat Big Buck's unless the Nicholls-trained gelding makes any type of significant error during the course of the race. He's got the measure of this Aintree course, however, and will be in top shape for the effort.

Expect a price in the neighbourhood of 2/9 or 4/11 as Big Buck's looks set for 17 in a row.