Staying hurdle champion Big Buck’s has been named Horse of the Year at the Anglo-Irish Jump Racing Awards in London.
The public plumped for the Paul Nicholls-trained gelding following the inaugural vote for the prestigious title.
Big Buck’s strolled to a second successive World Hurdle at Cheltenham in March before taking his winning sequence to eight with a facile success in the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree.
The French-bred came out on top of the pile ahead of Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander, who was announced as runner-up.
Big Buck’s’ illustrious stablemate Kauto Star, who fell short in his bid for a third Cheltenham Gold Cup crown in March, came in next ahead of yet another member of the Nicholls yard, Denman.
More than 1500 votes were cast on britishhorseracing.com, with.
The five shortlisted contenders were:
Big Buck’s (Trained by Paul Nicholls and owned by The Stewart Family)
Imperial Commander (Trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies and owned by Our Friends In The North)
Kauto Star (Trained by Paul Nicholls and owned by Clive Smith)
Denman (Trained by Paul Nicholls and owned by Harry Findlay and Paul Barber)
Binocular (Trained by Nicky Henderson and owned by JP McManus)
