'I got such a fright' - relieved Townend recalls Galopin Des Champs departure

Paul Townend said on Sunday he would not do anything differently given another crack at the Turners Novices' Chase in which Galopin Des Champs's dramatic departure at the last drew the biggest gasps of a fabulous Cheltenham Festival week.

Townend finished the meeting with five winners, enough to see him crowned leading rider for a second time, but it would have been six had Galopin Des Champs not stumbled and fallen after jumping the last in his eagerly awaited bout with Bob Olinger.

It was a cruel way for the six-year-old to suffer his first defeat over fences given he was a dozen lengths clear of his big rival when coming down in Thursday's Grade 1, but Townend admitted he feared the worst in the immediate aftermath and that put the result into perspective.