Patiently does it for Jefferson as her world fails to revolve around Cheltenham

It was billed as the best race of the season and it certainly played out as one of the most rewarding, the tussle between Waiting Patiently and Cue Card in the Ascot Chase providing high drama and high emotion in armfuls.

Afterwards, the inevitable conversation about Cheltenham took place, whereupon the decision to wait and see about Waiting Patiently regarding the Ryanair Chase, with the accent on potentially giving the big meeting a miss, was greeted with wide-eyed surprise in many quarters. Ruth Jefferson, very much her father's daughter, doesn't buy into the be-all-and-end-all nature of those four days in March.

"Everyone else is obsessed by Cheltenham. We are not that fussed," said Jefferson, as refreshing as that glass of lager John Mills swigs down in Ice Cold In Alex.