Antepost

293,152 votes to 72,095 — that was the margin of victory jockey Tony McCoy enjoyed over runner-up darts player Phil Taylor in the Sports Personality of the Year title race.
Not quite a landslide but, when you consider McCoy received 42 percent of the total vote compared to Taylor’s 10 percent, and the 10th placed finisher, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion David Haye’s one percent, a veritable avalanche.
I kid you not, weighted on the “what you can afford to lose” scales, I have never lost so much or got any result so dramatically wrong. For those of you that followed me in, please accept my profound apologies. Take solace that even 10 minutes before the result was announced I was still laying him at odds of 2/5 with money I don’t have!
The Cheltenham Festival will have to be my salvation once again and the portfolio already features the name Big Bucks on every line. Still undefeated, below is the case I put forward for the great horse last year and all points remain valid for his 2011 World Hurdle attempt.
“…It may be several months away but I am looking forward to six minutes of sheer ecstasy that the three mile World Hurdle will surely be for the supporters of the 2009 winner, Big Bucks.
“Quite simply there is not a statistic in the book which indicates the defending champion can get beat, and the odds of 2/1 generally available as 2009 draws to a close should be snapped up.
“Just consider: Big Bucks is the highest officially rated hurdler in training and he is also unbeaten over hurdles on UK shores. He is attempting to become a dual winner in a race which has thrown up back-to-back winners such as Baracouda and Inglis Drever in recent times.
“Going into the 2010 rendition Big Bucks will be a seven-year-old, an improving one at that, which bodes well when you consider no four- or five-year-old has ever won the race. Similarly there has only been one winner older than nine (Crimson Embers in 1986).
“No winner during the last decade has started at odds of over 8/1 and so all the demographics clearly point to a Big Bucks victory, but what about his opponents? In short, there aren’t any!”
Sadly Big Bucks is trading at 4/5 so, as a real boost to your potential winnings, also scribble the name Mikael D’Haginet at odds of 8/1 for the Royal Sun Alliance Chase at the Festival on your slips. It’s a race over three miles restricted to novice chasers.
I concede Mikael D’Haginet has raced over these large obstacles just once and stumbled at the final fence when doing so. However, anyone watching the race, his first for nearly 600 days, will appreciate he was about to score comfortably against a high class field despite the jungle drums indicating he would come on a bundle for the outing.
Over hurdles this horse raced five times in 2009 claiming Grade 1 wins at both the Punchestown and Cheltenham Festivals in an undefeated season. Trainer Willie Mullins is not one to mistake his swans for ducklings and with him already talking about Cheltenham targets — a tilt at the Gold Cup was even touted — you have to stand up and take note. ♠