Adrian Maguire at his best - riding like the hounds of hell were on his tail

Greatest Festival Rides - No. 7
Adrian Maguire (Viking Flagship, 1994 Champion Chase)

We all have our 'golden eras' of racing, the brief but unforgettable windows through which we watched as glorious clusters of equine marvels engaged in repeated battle and great champions emerged, never to be forgotten. It didn't matter which of them won or when: we remember them all as great.

In 1994, there were enough golden two-mile chasers to turn the era into a veritable Fort Knox, and at Cheltenham that year the Champion Chase contained the absolute pick of them. Crucially – because a truly great race must be a clash of generations – we had the winners of the previous three runnings, in the shape of Katabatic, Remittance Man and Deep Sensation, but they were not alone. There was fresh blood as well, provided by the previous year's Arkle first and third, Travado and Sybillin. All this before we even get to Viking Flagship, the seven-year-old who had won the Victor Chandler and Game Spirit Chases and who was making a name for himself as a rising star and tough nut.