You couldn't write results like these as Michael O'Sullivan's two winners from 2023 return to triumph again

Some results cannot be resisted. Less than a month after we lost Michael O'Sullivan, Marine Nationale, the horse with whom he was most famously associated, became the inescapable centre of attention when storming to glory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase. 

Just 40 minutes later, the other half of Michael's double here two years ago, Jazzy Matty, had a go at the Grand Annual, the oldest of all festival races and one of the hardest to win. He lined up among 19 rivals but moved through the race as if he were inevitably destined for the winner's enclosure, as if no other results would be countenanced by whatever divine being presides over our little corner of the world.

Anyone who has watched the turmoil that has been taking place out there on the racetrack this week knows that you can't arrange Cheltenham Festival results to suit some favoured narrative, however much you might fancy the idea. Carefully formed plans, moulded over years by the most capable trainers, have disintegrated before our eyes.