CHELTENHAM week was some week. It always is. Even a week after the last race has been run and the last presentation has been made, it still resonates. In truth, the Cheltenham Festival resonates until long after the last race has been run. For years after. For decades after. It leaves an indelible mark.

There were heroic performances, human and equine. It was Cheltenham after all. It’s the greatest stage, everyone is trained to the minute, human and equine. (See above.) You are probably going to need to put up a heroic performance if you are going to prevail. From Summerville Boy and Footpad and Buveur D’Air through Samcro and Presenting Percy and Altior and Balko Des Flos and Laurina all the way to Farclas and Native River.

Gordon Elliott had his team in sparkling form again. From no winners on the first day to eight winners by the time the curtain came down, and top trainer at Cheltenham for the second year running. Willie Mullins shone, as he usually does. Who would have thought that you could ever train seven winners at a Cheltenham Festival and not be crowned leading trainer? Even so, it was another fantastic week for Closutton, and Laurina’s win in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle took Ireland’s champion trainer’s Cheltenham Festival tally to 61, past Nicky Henderson as the winning-most trainer in the history of the event.

Davy Russell excelled again, top rider at the Cheltenham Festival for the first time and one of the few remaining gaps on his CV now filled. Jack Kennedy matched Russell’s total of four, and Barry Geraghty, Ruby Walsh and Paul Townend had two each. Five riders rode more than one winner at the Festival, and all five are Irish and Irish-based.

You have to feel for Ruby Walsh, whose festival run was cut short after the second race on the second day. You saw his talent showcased again on day one though, two winners from five rides, two superb and very different winning rides. Hopefully he will be back for Punchestown.

The girls came to the fore too. Lizzie Kelly and Katie Walsh and Bridget Andrews, but Harriet Tucker’s achievement in riding Pacha Du Polder to victory in the Foxhunter, her shoulder dislocated on the run-in, must be a leading contender for achievement of the week. And the competition for that accolade is intense.