Cheltenham 2019: Brough Scott reflects on a memorable week at the festival

Sometimes there can be a happy ending. The light was fading as they swept down the hill but a beacon of hope shone from the familiar white cap above the green and gold. He was hampered in traffic both at the second-last and on the final bend but straightening up there was a drive and a dynamism that linked us back 33 years to his dad on Dawn Run. Another Jonjo O’Neill was to win at the Cheltenham Festival. It was the best of times.

Back in 1986 Jonjo snr had already survived a leg smashed “into a bag of gravel” and was actually battling cancer on Gold Cup day. But his unquenchable optimism won through and that’s the most addictive of all the attractions of the Cheltenham Festival. It will always be a four-day battle of hope against experience. There will be dreadful disasters as well as giddy triumphs and at a time of political mayhem this year delivered more completely than ever.

The location and the history add a special potency to the mix. Cleeve Hill was basked in spring sunshine as we drove in to film a Champion Hurdle preview on Monday morning. With the possible exception of Table Mountain looking down on Test cricket at Cape Town’s Newlands ground, this is the greatest back drop in sport and all the great ones have galloped in the natural arena beneath.