I'm in the presence of greatness - but I bet Messi isn't followed round with a saucepan after matches

Early

The wagon left Seven Barrows at 8.38am, so Charlie Morlock, assistant trainer, informs me by text – with a photo of Constitution Hill and his lad Jaydon Lee to prove the point. To avoid confusion, Charlie tells me it's a big, cream-coloured Oakley with a Unibet logo on the outside and a Champion Hurdle favourite on the inside.

Google's maps tell me it should take just over an hour for them to get to Cheltenham, which is where I already am, waiting eagerly at the gate. I add on ten minutes for the complexities of getting an HGV through Winchcombe, then another ten when I see the size of the first of Willie Mullins' phalanx of boxes, which apparently has enough room for 12 horses but might just as easily house a family of four, with off-street parking – and no council tax.

The big day has arrived as Nicky Henderson enters CheltenhamCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Sure enough, at 10.03 the cream-coloured Oakley rolls into the racecourse. I panic briefly, wondering if Nicky Henderson has two of these lorries and this is the wrong one. Surely a horse like Constitution Hill deserves a little more fanfare than this, but like everything else he does, the mighty beast arrives in low-key fashion, sneaking under the radar of publicity.