Nick Luck says a final Newbury goodbye but for Paul Nicholls it's business as usual

On the day Nick Luck first said hello from Newbury's Challow Hurdle card, a future legend called Kauto Star made his British debut with a stylish success. On the day Luck bade farewell from Newbury for the last time, it was Paul Nicholls who once again supplied the star of the show.

After the longest of long goodbyes, this was the day when Racing TV finally ended its 19-and-a-half-year association with Newbury. Three runnings of what is now the Coral Gold Cup have been completed since it was announced Sky Sports Racing would begin a five-year contract in 2024. Come the next Newbury meeting on January 17, the likes of Luck, Lydia Hislop and Tom Stanley will be missing. Absent on this occasion was Nicky Henderson.

It takes a lot for Lambourn's flagbearer to skip a Newbury meeting. Henderson was at his local track when Constitution Hill dazzled at Newcastle last year and he would have once again foregone a trip to the Toon had this season's Fighting Fifth fixture not succumbed to the weather. On this occasion, we had neither the flu-struck trainer nor his stable jockey Nico de Boinville, whose broken clavicle gave James Bowen a chance. He grabbed that chance with both hands and an exceedingly big smile.