'It's just fantastic' - David Maxwell cock-a-hoop at the perfect redemption

On New Year's Day at the home of jump racing, it was not just the extraordinarily mild weather that warmed the heart.

According to the racecard, this was "Cheltenham's Big Day Out". It felt very big indeed, particularly if you happened to be David Maxwell. Like many others on a family fun day, he had brought his children. Unlike the vast majority, he was also here with one of his horses. They should not have won but they did and, in doing so, Dolphin Square and his delightful jockey painted a picture of what it means to triumph at this most marvellous place.

There was plenty to applaud throughout the afternoon, not least Stormy Ireland and L'Homme Presse both making all to land the two Grade 2 highlights, the former providing a happy encore to Danny Mullins' King George heroics six days earlier. Yet although they were the day's biggest winners they did not get the biggest cheer. That was reserved for the 43-year-old amateur who captured the three-mile handicap hurdle.