'Moments like this show he's here with us and he'll always be there' - Michael O'Sullivan remembered in emotional Champion Chase

There is no finer place to win than Cheltenham in March, nor more painful a place to lose. Until the big race came along, this piece was set to begin with a scene that showed how the sport's hottest cauldron had once again highlighted the yawning chasm between victory and defeat. Then the Champion Chase was won by a jockey sporting a yellow jacket with a navy blue stripe and the story of this day was completely changed.

It is when confronted with death that we often gain perspective on life. A horse losing a race is never a tragedy, no matter how unexpected, unfortunate or unlucky. On the festival's first day we were reminded of true tragedy by the absence of John Hunt and his extraordinary words in Cambridge Crown Court. Here at Cheltenham there had been a moving reminder of tragedy when the opening Supreme Novices' Hurdle carried the name of Michael O'Sullivan and was won by a horse owned by a family who dedicated their triumph to a young man from their home county, Cork.

It was just two years ago that O'Sullivan enjoyed the day of his all-too-short racing life. Sporting the familiar silks of Barry Connell, the owner and trainer who had been so integral to the rapid blossoming of his career, O'Sullivan became a festival hero when winning the Supreme aboard Marine Nationale. Just over three hours later he laid icing on a magnificent cake when landing the Fred Winter Hurdle on an outsider called Jazzy Matty. Two years later, and less than a month after O'Sullivan died having suffered terrible injuries in a Thurles fall, Marine Nationale and Jazzy Matty returned to Cheltenham. This time they won without him, In doing so, they won for him.