Read an extract from Timeform's Horses To Follow about one to note over fences this season.
Entered at Cheltenham on Sunday (13:45) and Plumpton on Monday (13:50)
After an encouraging first season over hurdles for Venetia Williams following his purchase from France, Bucksy des Epeires looks set to embark on a successful career over fences this term in keeping with many from his stable before him.
He was lightly raced in France where he wore a tongue tie for all his starts as well as a hood on his debut, finishing second on both his completed starts when trained by Donatien Sourdeau de Beauregard. That left him eligible for novices in Britain and he got off the mark at the first time of asking for his new stable, in a maiden at Lingfield in November, despite being off the track for more than a year beforehand. After travelling well, he kept on to lead in the final 100 yards and just held on by a nose from Dan Skelton’s odds-on favourite Illico de Cotte with the pair of them finishing ten lengths clear.
Bucksy des Epeires progressed again when making his handicap debut in a valuable two-mile contest at Sandown on Tingle Creek day. The presence of Langer Dan at the top of the weights resulted in Bucksy des Epeires being 3 lb out of the handicap, though that was offset by conditional Ned Fox taking 5 lb off his back. Given that he was ridden more prominently than most, Bucksy des Epeires deserved credit for sustaining his effort as well as he did in the testing conditions, keeping on to finish three and a half lengths second to the useful Spirit d’Aunou.
For the remainder of the season he was returned to longer trips, though it wasn’t until his final outing at Ludlow in April that he showed something like his Sandown form after lesser efforts at Aintree and Ascot and a first-flight fall at Lingfield in between. At Ludlow, though, he got back on track, closing all the way to the line to be beaten a neck by outsider Legionar who held on to make all.
Bucksy des Epeires is by Buck’s Boum, a half-brother to Big Buck’s and best known now for siring dual Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo, while his dam Maline des Epeires won all five of her starts in France, including three chases at Auteuil, showing useful form. A lengthy, angular gelding, Bucksy des Epeires could well prove just as good himself over fences. Venetia Williams
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