Emanating from a sea of humanity, the Cheltenham Roar greeting the annual Festival’s opening race is among British sport’s great sights and sounds.
If it was slightly muted this year, that was barely discernible, but there was a sense that the excitement may have been slightly tempered by anxiety.
The Festival was the centrepiece of a week which shook the country, with the Covid crisis unfolding like a roll of thunder. By the time of the Gold Cup, which took place on Friday March 13, there was an air about the place of the band playing on the deck of the Titanic.