Minded heads star cast in Ascot feature

MASTER MINDED features among a field of nine runners in the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot tomorrow. The dual Champion Chase hero has enjoyed a fantastic start to the campaign, destroying his rivals in the Amlin 1965 Chase before following up in equally impressive style in the Tingle Creek at Cheltenham.

Five horses that took him on in the latter event reoppose this weekend, with Petit Robin (second), Somersby (third), I’m So Lucky (fourth), Gauvain (fifth) and Kalahari King (seventh) bidding to reverse form.

Master Minded’s trainer Paul Nicholls will also saddle Tchico Polos, while Petit Robin’s handler Nicky Henderson also fires two shots at the race as he also runs Mad Max. The latter was last seen finishing sixth in the Vote AP Gold Cup at Cheltenham and his owner, Paul Murphy, believes the switch to Ascot will be in his favour.

Crack Away Jack is an interesting contender for Emma Lavelle, making his comeback from injury after over a year on the sidelines.

Dual winner Big Buck’s features among a superb entry of 46 for this year’s €308,000 Grade One Ladbrokes World Hurdle, one of the feature races on the third day of the Festival, St Patrick’s Day, Thursday, March 17th.

The Stewart family’s eight-year-old will bid to emulate the other outstanding staying hurdler of recent times, Inglis Drever, by taking the three-mile championship race for a third time.

Race sponsor Ladbrokes makes Paul Nicholls’ charge its 4 to 7 favourite as he bids to follow up the successes of 2009 and 2010. If successful in 2011, Big Bucks would become the first horse to win the championship contest for three consecutive years.

Since being switched to the smaller obstacles by trainer Paul Nicholls after unseating his rider in the 2008 Hennessy Gold Cup, Big Buck’s has yet to taste defeat in 10 outings and he recorded a fifth Grade One success when producing yet another authoritative display in the rearranged Long Walk Hurdle at Newbury at the end of December.

Some of his chief dangers may come from the stable of Nicky Henderson as the Seven Barrows handler has entered Punchestowns, runner-up in 2009, as well as impressive recent Cheltenham winner Oscar Whisky and Zaynar, who triumphed in the Grade One JCB Triumph Hurdle at the Festival in 2009.

An Irish-trained winner would raise the roof on St Patrick’s Day and a record 15 Irish entries are headed by a formidable quintet from Willie Mullins that includes two previous winners of the Grade One Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle – Fiveforthree and Mikael D’Haguenet, dual Grade Two David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle heroine Quevega and recent Grade Two scorer Mourad. Six-time Grade One victor Solwhit could also figure.