We sneer at darts - but we'd be better off learning from it, not laughing at it

Mark Johnson didn't seem particularly enamoured by it all.

"It's a bit like a night at the Premier League darts rather than a racecourse at the moment," groaned the Racing TV commentator as the field for the Martin Pipe were making a pig's ear of lining up for the 28th and final event of an enthralling Cheltenham Festival.

"We had some very much darts kind of chanting after Elimay won the previous race and there is a huge crowd still here soaking up the sun and the atmosphere. Will it be a clean sweep for the Irish? And it's just getting louder and louder . . . "