AH sure, things are not like they used to be. The game’s gone. The crowds are gone, the connection with the horse is a thing of the past.

It’s all O’Leary, Ricci, Potts ... if only we had the likes of a Danoli again. Well, folks we might just have a real star attraction once more.

We’ve had cheers for Hurricane Fly and Faugheen but the reception given to Presenting Percy on his winning return at Gowran was one to a horse who means quite a bit more than your normal Grade 1 winner. And remember he has only ever won one Grade 1 race!

It’s not as if trainer Pat Kelly has quite found the level of public affection that Tom Foley did but results speak loudest.

Few trainers have broken through the Elliott/Mullins monopoly on top class horses in recent seasons. Harrington, Meade, de Bromhead have had their moments. Beyond that it’s difficult.

Colm Murphy was there but he called it a day, a sign of the times.

Despite the volume of highly-priced horses in the bigger yard, with much less ammunition in the last three years, Kelly has slipped in quietly along with the Elliott and Mullins as they dominated the Cheltenham Festival.

We’ve had many extremely popular, high class jumpers in recent years, but horses like Sizing Europe and Big Zeb didn’t perhaps grab the affection as Presenting Percy seems to have found.

He’s not the most obvious horse to inspire such a following. His route to success has been unconventional. The Pertemps Handicap Hurdle does not traditionally give birth to a Gold Cup favourite.

His following grows with each appearance. It might be from his unconventional preparations but I had a nagging feeling last year that the Gold Cup might just be too tough a race for Presenting Percy. Gold Cup winners were more likely to be the solid, hard stayers who saw out every yard of a full-out gallop for three mile, two furlong.

Class is often sacrificed like in Lord Windermere’s year. Even high quality RSA Chase winners can have their stamina drawn out in the Gold Cup, like Florida Pearl, like Might Bite last year.

Jockeyship can often win the Gold Cup as much as the horse’s ability - think McCoy making up Mr Mulligan’s mind, Sam Thomas on Denman, de Boinville’s bold, take no prisoners ride on the novice Coneygree, Richard Johnson and Native River’s determination last year.

The Gold Cup is a test of the man on board as well as the horse. It’s going to take guile to win this Gold Cup. There’s Johnson again on Native River, there’s a big field of decent chasers. Presenting Percy will have to be guided through his most demanding test, smuggled into the race.

But here Percy has another huge plus, the man on his back. Few jockeys rides Cheltenham as well as Davy Russell. His record is outstanding as he hasn’t always had quality rides.

It all adds to the intrigue of what will be a fascinating race. For all our success in jump racing recent years, we have had as much negative comments as positive.

There was a quote this week from Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino that seemed very relevant to these times.

“We are talking about the real human. We need to breathe, we need to feel the love, we need emotion. Football is a contest of emotion.”

Racing too revolves around emotion and I think we’ve found that connection again with a horse called Percy!