The most amazing hour in Cheltenham history - as told by those who made it

Rarely does a Cheltenham Festival winner pass without bestowing a wealth of pleasure on a sizeable number of people. Occasionally, however, the stars align over Cleeve Hill and there develops a perfect storm of talent, circumstance and good fortune that reaches out not just to individuals or vested interests but to the whole community, even beyond racing's rarely scaled perimeter fence.

The afternoon of Thursday, March 14, 2019 was one such storm; a day's racing that began as a loose formation of hopes and dreams, with a half-written narrative fighting for attention, and ended as a sporting fable so perfectly delivered as to defy belief. It was a day full of all the usual high achievement, but at its heart was a nugget that became known as the 'Golden Hour' when the festival leapt out of its cage and savaged the emotions of anybody who had allowed themselves to be drawn too close to the action.

The players were a collection of disparate sorts, from Cheltenham fixtures to unfamiliar faces. There was Paul Nicholls, a trainer with 45 winners to his name at the meeting, but the horse he was aiming at the day’s big steeplechase at 2.50 was no 'galactico' – a diminutive beast called Frodon with the heart of a lion and a partner, in the shape of the then 23-year-old Bryony Frost, who had destiny on her side.