Cad of the year, friend of the royals - and, incredibly, a festival winner

March 18, Gold Cup day, is the 40th anniversary of one of the most striking races I have witnessed at the Cheltenham Festival. Or anywhere else. What actually transpired that long ago may often become exaggerated by unreliable memory, but how can one exaggerate what happened in the 1982 Foxhunter Chase?

The Drunken Duck and Honourable Man going head to head was epic in its own right, but this was one of those occasions, rare for me, in which the jockeys grabbed the attention rather more than the horses. One jockey in particular, because while Brod Munro-Wilson and Tony Fowler had highly contrasting styles, Munro-Wilson's was in startling contrast to that of almost anyone.

From a bountiful choice of similes applied to his appearance in the saddle, "someone trying to put up a deckchair in a gale" sticks in my mind, but it got The Drunken Duck home in front. A look at this race on YouTube is strongly recommended.