Joy looks a certainty as huge Cheltenham Festival crowd gets ready to roar again

The excitement comes bubbling out of the ground at Cheltenham. It builds up on the top of Cleeve Hill and floods down on what Sir Peter O'Sullevan called "this tremendous natural amphitheatre", so that toughened old cynics find themselves swept along with the flow.

Sixty-five thousand people will be here today, most of them for the first time in at least two years. Joy is the banker of the week. Delirium is another hot favourite. After everything we've been through, here is a week to savour, to revel in doing some of the things we used to take completely for granted.

All that pent-up enthusiasm will be released in a matter of hours. The famous cheer that greets the start of the Supreme Novices' Hurdle will reverberate all round the Cotswolds, warming the cockles of hoteliers and publicans.