Big Buck's proves his World class

What started off as an experiment has proved a masterstroke as Big Buck's yesterday became the first horse ever to win three consecutive renewals of the Ladbrokes World Hurdle.

Big Buck's was bought as a chaser but his mishap in the 2009 Hennessy Gold Cup triggered an astonishing sequence over hurdles and his 11-race unbeaten streak cements his position as one of the finest stayers in history.

The showdown with Grands Crus was one of the most talked-about issues of the 2011 Cheltenham Festival and the match materialised approaching the final flight, but the 10-11 favourite evaded the latest pretender to his crown in his own inimitable style.

Big Buck's, who is still only eight, has a habit of showing just as much of his seemingly bottomless ability as he needs to win and this trait has endeared him to racegoers as he enjoyed a reception usually reserved for Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup stars.

Jockey Ruby Walsh had the added pressure of dropping his whip just before the last, but his mount absorbed everything Tom Scudamore and Grands Crus threw at him and was in command by a length and three-quarters as he passed the post.

While Walsh, trainer Paul Nicholls and owner Andy Stewart deserved their own share of the credit, this was an occasion where it was all about the horse as he joined the iron-hard Inglis Drever as a three-time winner (in 2005, 2007 and 2008).

"He is, especially when he runs in races like at Newbury, as close in horseracing as it is to buying money if you back him," said Walsh. "I know today was a different ball game at Cheltenham with difficult horses like Grands Crus and Mourad (third) but he is as close to unbeatable as a jumps horse can be."

Tony McCoy, meanwhile, had a 34-1 double on day three of the Festival. The perennial champion jockey drew a blank on the first two days of the showpiece meeting, but partnered Noble Prince to victory in the inaugural running of the Jewson Novices' Chase and followed up with a repeat win on Albertas Run in the Ryanair Chase.

David Pipe was also in double form, Buena Vista (20-1) landing the Pertemps for the second successive year, and then Junior (7-2) routing the opposition in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup. In the day's other races, Holmwood Legend (25-1) landed the Byrne Group Plate for veteran trainer Pat Rodford, while Henry Cecil was the toast of departing punters as the Flat maestro saddled the Lorna Fowler-ridden Plato to land the St Patrick's Day Derby charity contest.