Last year, Cheltenham was like an empty cathedral. This year, we have our congregation back. I wrote in this column 12 months ago that Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle could become racing’s golden couple and, sure enough, they delivered a great performance to win the Champion Hurdle. But how eerie it was to watch them come back into the winner’s enclosure in near silence, Cheltenham desolate due to Covid. 

This year could not be more different: tickets have sold faster than ever and I have to say that interest is as intense as I can remember. People are desperate to get back racing at Cheltenham and we are in for a brilliant week. Since that great 6½-length win, Rachael has gone on to be not just a racing star but a worldwide star, and she and Honeysuckle are shaping up to be one of sport’s great double acts. 

Torvill and Dean, Lillee and Marsh, Keegan and Toshack: if Blackmore and the Henry de Bromhead-trained mare deliver again, as the short price suggests they will, then HONEYSUCKLE will become the first mare to win the Champion Hurdle twice, and immortality will be assured. I hope that they are roared back home, and that racing this week can lift spirits and be a joyous, glorious distraction from so much of the darkness in the world at the moment. I know that there are stable staff who are Ukrainian, and racing’s thoughts and support are with them. 

The last race today contributes to the Ukraine appeal, and the action this week is in association with the British Red Cross, and also WellChild, of which I am a proud ambassador. Talking of ambassadors, two of our game’s greats renewed their friendly rivalry over lunch a couple of weeks ago, and I was lucky enough to catch up at that with both Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins. The two get on famously off the course, and while Nicky might or might not have been joking when he said they had been hoping for either a monsoon or a ferry strike across the Irish Sea, he and everyone else here cannot wait to take on the mighty Irish contingent once again. 

Nicky’s CONSTITUTION HILL leads the home challenge in the Supreme, but the Mullins camp will fancy Dysart Dynamo. The fact that Willie has switched Sir Gerhard to the Ballymore tomorrow suggests to me that we can kick off with a home win in the opener. This column had three winners on day one last year, and here are the rest of my tips to, hopefully, match or better that. Alan King has a superb record at any number of top courses, but he has had a Cheltenham monkey on his back for some reason. In the seven years since he last had a festival winner, he has had four at Royal Ascot, landed Group Ones on the Flat and enjoyed all manner of success. 

EDWARDSTONE, with his reliable jumping, can help King get back to winning ways here in a race where some Irish big guns, notably Ferny Hollow, are missing. QUEENS BROOK has some of that all-important Cheltenham form to bring into the Mares’ Hurdle, having come third in the Bumper in 2020, and I hear from Gordon Elliott’s yard that she has been flying at home. The talking horse of the week is Gaelic Warrior, who goes for Mullins in the Fred Winter. Rich Ricci has had a glint in his eye talking about this horse, not least because they reckon he has stayed out of the handicapper’s clutches. 

That said, he looks an awfully short price and, on that basis, I prefer HMS SEAHORSE, who has been improving at a rate of knots and might well sail home for Paul Nolan. A disappointingly small field for the last, but VANILLIER quickened away nicely to win the Albert Bartlett here last year with a really eye-catching performance and gets the nod. My bet of the day is GRUMPY CHARLEY in the Ultima Handicap Chase. I am recommending this fellow each-way at a big price because I like a novice chaser in handicap company and I think he has been well treated by the handicapper, carrying 10st 4lb. He ran here in the Supreme last year and I fancied him then, albeit that he found the likes of the winner Appreciate It too hot to handle. He should give you a run for your money off this mark. 

Good luck to everyone coming today, Cheltenham cannot wait to have you back, and we are thrilled to be welcoming viewers at home to ITV as well.

Bet of the Day – Grumpy Charley (250)

I am recommending this fellow each way at a big price because I like a novice chaser in handicap company and I think he’s been well treated by the handicapper, carrying ten stone four. He ran here in the Supreme last year and I fancied him then, albeit that he found the likes of the winner Appreciate It too hot to handle. Should give you a run for your money off this mark.