'It's brilliant' says Gordon Elliott after winners and a Cheltenham welcome

It was an afternoon summed up in a handshake.

As Gordon Elliott walked into the winner's enclosure following his second Cheltenham success of the season, clerk of the course Simon Claisse saw him, put out a hand and offered words of congratulation. The victory mattered to Elliott. Perhaps even more important was that gesture and others like it.

It could not have happened in March. Even before Elliott was handed his suspension by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, it had been obvious the BHA did not want him at the festival. Nor did Cheltenham's owners, the Jockey Club. It would not have felt right, it would not have been right. On so many levels, things were different then.