HE did it the hard way but Big Buck's made history in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham yesterday with a thrilling fourth successive victory in the stayers' championship.

The nine-year-old, trained by Paul Nicholls and ridden by Ruby Walsh, had to work hard to ward off Voler La Vedette to take his winning streak over hurdles to 16, with Voler La Vedette (20-1) second and Smad Place (20-1) third.

The success was as much a relief as joy for Nicholls, who had seen several of his horses run poorly since Rock On Ruby won the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday.

Winning jockey Walsh said: "We went a good gallop and sprinted off the bend when he got to the running rail. The way Paul's horses had been running, they were starting to doubt but, boy, this lad is good.

"I rode him much handier than last year, they were all speed horses, Thousand Stars, Oscar Whisky, So Young, but the only one that stayed was this lad."

Nicholls said: "I was getting a bit worried as we'd been out of form and out of luck since Rock On Ruby won the other day, but this lad is class. We needed to ride him like that today as we've thought for a long time that to get the best out of him we need to make it a test. He had to fight but he just keeps galloping. The tactics were executed to perfection and it was a great ride from Ruby."

Alan King, who trains Smad Place, said: "He's run very well and I hoped he would put in a good performance. It's a good result for racing and it's nice to be a little part of it. Our lad is a fresh horse so he'll probably go to Aintree and we'll take him on again."

Earlier, jockey Barry Geraghty took the plaudits with a brilliant effort to get Riverside Theatre up in the final strides of the Ryanair Chase. The in-form rider galvanised Nicky Henderson's eight-year-old, part-owned by actor Jimmy Nesbitt, to deny Albertas Run a third successive win in the race.

The favourite snatched the spoils by half a length from Albertas Run (10-1) with Medermit (8-1) another half a length away in third.

Geraghty said: "It was hard work. I never travelled and he missed a few fences but he's game. I threw him at the last four fences and he kept coming up. It's unbelievable training to bring him back from a year off to win two Grade 1s."

A delighted Nesbitt said: "I just can't believe the ride Barry gave him and Nicky has done such an incredible job to bring him back like he has. The training performance at Ascot was extraordinary, but to have him in that nick today, to have that courage and battle like he did is incredible."

Cape Tribulation struck for Yorkshire trainer Malcolm Jefferson in a driving finish to the Pertemps Final. Denis O'Regan got a great tune out of the 14-1 shot to join Cantlow at the final flight and then gallop on strongly up the hill to land a cosy success.

Salut Flo landed a gamble with a gutsy, all-the-way success in the Byrne Group Plate. The 9-2 favourite, trained by David Pipe and ridden by Tom Scudamore, ran his rivals ragged and kept pulling out more, despite making mistakes. The Cockney Mackem (10-1), who was also well-backed, put in a strong late challenge but was still six lengths down at the line.

Scudamore said: "It means an awful lot. It's been a hard week for my family, it's so wonderful I can hardly speak. My grandad is not very well, so this will help us. We always thought he had a good chance and as he's pretty free it seemed sensible to make it.

"He jumped well apart from the one at the top of the hill which is a tricky fence anyway. David's done a great job with him as he'd been off an awful long time.

"I knew he would keep going. To come back and win a race at the Festival with him is a great performance."