IT is difficult to over-estimate the magnitude of Jessica Harrington’s achievement, producing a Gold Cup winner with her first ever runner in the race, her first ever entry in the race. Sizing John was her first ever runner in the Irish Gold Cup, and she won that with him too, so why not?

Jessica Harrington was already the winning-most female trainer at the Cheltenham Festival by the time she sat down to dinner on Wednesday night, but a Gold Cup and a Grand Annual now puts her clear. Add that to the fact that she is now one of just three female trainers to win the Gold Cup, and it is momentous.

It is a team effort. Harrington would not be able to do all she does without her daughters Emma and Kate (who was deprived of her shot at glory when Someday had to be scratched from the Champion Bumper) and all her team, top man Eamon Leigh and Sizing John’s groom Ashley Hussey. And Robbie Power, obviously a massive cog in the wheel at Moone, who said, of course he’ll stay, no bother.

And the role that Henry de Bromhead played in Sizing John’s formative years, in allowing him evolve into the horse that he has become, should not be under-estimated.

Initial inclination is to think that Sizing John could go on now and win another Gold Cup or two. He is only seven and, notwithstanding the fact that the two horses who chased him home are also seven, he could go even higher.

There have been five seven-year-old Gold Cup winners in the last 30 years, and just two of them returned to win the Gold Cup again.

Imperial Call, Kicking King and War Of Attrition all had troubled seasons, after their respective Gold Cup victories. Neither Kicking King nor War Of Attrition made it back to Cheltenham the following season. Imperial Call got there, but he ended up being pulled-up in the 1997 Gold Cup.

Best Mate raced just twice in the 2002/03 season – he won the Peterborough Chase and the King George – before going back to Cheltenham and winning his second Gold Cup, and he raced just twice again in 2003/04 – he finished second in the Peterborough Chase and he won the Ericsson Chase – before going back to Cheltenham and winning his third.

Kauto Star raced four times in 2007/08 before going back to Cheltenham and getting beaten by Denman in his bid to retain his Gold Cup. The following season, 2008/09, he raced just three times – in the JNWine.com Champion Chase, the Betfair Chase and the King George – before going back to Cheltenham and regaining his Gold Cup.

So neither Best Mate nor Kauto Star raced again between Christmas and Cheltenham during the seasons in which they won their second and/or third Gold Cups, and they ran no more than three times in total in those seasons before the Gold Cup. That may not be a coincidence.