Sprinter Sacre still has the wow factor - particularly with his very own stalker

It was not long ago the British public were warned to stay at home.

Some could have interpreted that as being a clear and concise message to become familiar with the lines of Only Fools And Horses and Friends, but Doreen Huddle didn't let Del Boy or Joey Tribbiani get in the way of her appreciation of all thing things thoroughbred in the meantime.

That was something she made up for in style on Friday – three years after the Lambourn Open Day was last hosted because of Covid – when waking up at her Stevenage home at 5am to leave at 6am for a date with Sprinter Sacre, her favourite horse and trainer Nicky Henderson's champion.

"He's just amazing and it's been so long with Covid," she says. "I've bought the last mug with him on – they're keeping it for me. He's absolutely beautiful."

Hang on Doreen, Altior is also here, as is Constitution Hill, who has been moved to Henderson's main yard and – sorry Aidan Coleman – does a passable impression of Jonbon by getting a little worked up.

Fans flock to the Lambourn Open Day

"He's back at 3pm" says Huddle, who seems to know the inner workings of Sprinter Sacre like a stalker.

"Oh, I am," she adds. "I had an hour with him on the Monday before Cheltenham. I've got two, three, four, five, six photographs of him in my hall and lounge and the Racing Post did a book on him, which you can see me cheering him in at Kempton – it's page 152 if you need to know."

Stewart Taylor arrives from Cheltenham and might have been escorted off the premises if Henderson had heard him – within earshot of Shishkin – say: "I like the Arkle winner for the Champion Chase and 12-1 about Edwardsone is value."

"I've a thing for two-mile chasers and One Man was my favourite, but when Sprinter Sacre came back and won his Champion Chase under Nico de Boinville, well it was one of the best moments I've seen in horseracing," he adds.

Taylor stressed he was jumps by the blood, so the prospect of Battaash being back at Charlie Hills's may not have stirred the soul.

"Second lot was like the M25," says Hills's wife Philippa, who suggests trade was as busy as ever.

Clive Cox was happy to talk to hordes, although not necessarily horsepower given the courtesy car he's driving at the moment.

"I hate it," he says. "I'd rather drive a Fiesta."

Cox's comfortable BMW – "I really like it" – is back next week, when he hopes the internet might return.

Altior with former groom Robin Land

"I've not told you what he did last night, have I?" he says. The 'he' relates to former star jockey John Francome, Cox's landlord.

"He cut a Wi-Fi wire on his digger that he thought was a piece of string, so I need my iPad do to entries."

Doreen, from Stevenage, might also need a strong internet connection for Sprinter Sacre's parade. Henderson was pleased to see him back, as he was with the Lambourn Open Day, which it was with a bang.

Former jockey Jimmy Nolan, married to organiser Sandra, said: "It's mad, busier than I've known."

That was something that might have irked car parkers, but they were out in force – and queuing for a car park space must have been better than boxsets and Joey from Friends on lockdown.

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