New-look festival spares smaller crowd the usual squeeze and delivers a day of epic drama

Once the gasps had subsided following a Champion Hurdle that upended every script and expectation, a most unlikely serenade began. "Oh, Jeremy Scott!" the Cheltenham crowd sang, the voices getting louder and meatier with every refrain. "Oh, Jeremy Scott!" Scott, the trainer of the shock 25-1 winner Golden Ace, smiled at the absurdity of it all, before finding the perfect response from Only Fools And Horses. "As Del Boy says: 'Who dares wins, Rodney.'"

- Sean Ingle

Who dares wins indeed. The Champion Hurdle was billed as a clash for the ages between Constitution Hill, the greatest hurdler of this generation, and Brighterdaysahead, the young Irish mare who had smashed the best in her country over Christmas. Instead it was Golden Ace, bought for just £12,000, who proved the glorious unpredictability of jumps racing.

First the odds-on favourite Constitution Hill, the 2023 winner, fell at the fourth-last when looking poised to pounce. Then State Man, the winner last year, belly flopped after hitting the last fence when victory seemed certain.

That left Golden Ace to pick up the pieces, with the winning jockey Lorcan Williams in shock as he crossed the line. He wasn't the only one. Golden Ace was not only unfancied, she wasn't initially going to the Champion Hurdle at all. It was only when Lossiemouth was declared for the Mares' Hurdle, that her team rolled the dice. Their reward? The £253,000 first prize.

Still, you felt for Nicky Henderson, the trainer of Constitutional Hill, who was left shaking his head and silently cursing the gods. "Nobody's hurt, but two horses and two jockeys have had proper old falls," he said. "It's cruel, we've waited two years to get back here and he was back. You can't have him any better than he was today."