There was relief it had actually happened at last

Eyewitness tales

Alan King recalls Solar Cloud's victory in the 1986 Triumph Hurdle

Leading trainer AlanKing had just joined David Nicholson's Condicote operation when 40-1 shot Solar Cloud finally ended a notoriously long wait for the Duke's first festival winner as a trainer in the Daily Express Triumph Hurdle of 1986. Although he'd ridden five winners at the festival, Nicholson had endured 102 losers as a trainer before the first of his 17 successes; Solar Cloud was also a first festival winner for then stable jockey Peter Scudamore.

Obviously Cheltenham always meant an awful lot to the boss. He adored Cheltenham – he was born and brought up close by, so he always thought of it as home and he wanted to have runners at any Cheltenham meeting, but particularly the festival of course. But he'd been 17 years without a winner since he started training.