Rachael and Honeysuckle stole the show last year - now they have to do it again

Last year was the first time in nearly 25 years I wasn’t at the Cheltenham Festival and I cannot wait to return this week. Everyone is buzzing about being back. People feel like the chance to be there was taken from them last year and, God forbid, might fear it could happen again, so I think everyone is going to be absolutely revved just to be back there.

That’s a dynamic that will manifest itself in the races, especially on Tuesday, because the jockeys feed off the electricity of the crowd. Usually at Cheltenham there is a ferocious gallop, but last year I felt there were a few races that weren’t an end-to-end test, the Champion Bumper being an obvious example. That won’t happen this year because the whole place is going to be so pumped.

My parents first took me over in 1997, the year Commanche Court won the Triumph Hurdle for Dad. I’d been every year since, so not being there in 2021 was strange.