DAY three of the Cheltenham is a bit of an unloved rogue, definitely the runt of the litter. To compensate, the PR goons at Cheltenham have tagged on the ‘St Patrick’s’ tag. Turns out it was ‘Pegasus’ day.

Generally social media has a sub-zero take on anything good in the world. Put ‘Ruby’ into the search box on Twitter and scroll back to Tuesday. It’s not for the faint hearted. The hive mind of the online world rarely come together in a positive way, at least in horseracing. There’s always some pocket-talker looking to stick the boot in. Frodon, aka ‘Pegasus’, and Bryony Frost melted the stone-cold hearts of the twitterati.

BANDWAGON

Team ITV Racing were already on board the Bryony bandwagon. She owes them nothing having had several high-profile winners on what would otherwise have been moribund Saturdays over the season so far.

There are times when the ITV Racing team morph into the communications wing of Cheltenham the brand.

Pravda would be embarrassed by them on occasion. Everything is awesome. After the Ryanair Chase, the gush-o-meter was off the charts. For any other horse and rider, this would grate more than the footage of obviously English people dressed as leprechauns.

AWESOME

Bryony Frost is different though. Everything here was awesome. She is box office, it’s clear to every viewer. That didn’t stop the ITV team ramming home the point. In terms of PR wins for the festival in association with some form of liquid Irish apples, Bryony is top of the wish list. She delivered in spades, both in the saddle and on screen. Oli Bell didn’t have to do much, just point the microphone. He did and Bryony delivered the post-race interview to end them all, humility, charisma, joy and emotion.

Added to Bryony’s stardust was the significant presence of Paul Nicholls in the winners’ enclosure. Nicholls winning is a pure joy, punching the air and loving the moment. There’s no need for an interview, the sight of Nicholls in that moment tells the viewer everything. He’s been away from Grade 1 success at the Cheltenham Festival too long. There’s a touch of the Celtic Phoenix about seeing Paul Nicholls back at the top table. Nicholls and Sean Mulryan having winners at the festival, sure it’s like 2007 all over again, an omen for the excellent @BustToBoom Twitter account, we’re #back baby.

The Stayers’ Hurdle was set up to be a melodramatic affair with either Faugheen coming back or Andrew Gemell having a winner with Paisley Park. The owner was genuinely ecstatic, a moment of pure joy, with no sop given to his disability. The way it should be. The tearjerker came from Aidan Coleman, in his greatest moment in the saddle, the Cork man immediately paid tribute to the late Campbell Gillies “my best friend”.

It wasn’t all high emotion, there were plenty of light moments. Chris Hughes and Matt Chapman fronted the Social Stable and Alice Plunkett told a blind man to “Look out for Barry Fenton”. *insert facepalm emoji*

Chapman partnered with Chris Hughes in the Social Stable made sense on Thursday. Hughes is a genuine big name in the weird world of social influencers. Before you ask the kids, he was on Love Island in 2017, and is big on Instagram. Two million people follow him. Hughes has, unlike many celebs who appear here, a genuine passion for racing. The Social Stable segment has been a bit of a problem child in the past, this was its most successful iteration.

A day filled with emotion and dramatic entertainment didn’t stop when ITV went off air. Nick Luck and Lydia Hislop were buzzing over on Racing TV. Lydia got to interview Noel Fehily announcing his imminent retirement, Derek O’Connor defending amateur riders and their significant role in the sport and Ted Walsh after having his first winner at the Cheltenham Festival in 22 years. Ted was magic, holding forth on several topics simultaneously; the festival currently, the history of the place, the changes, the BHA, the joy in having a winner and what need to be done in future.

Today felt like a significant day for horseracing, if you don’t want that, as Ted said, “go watch Peppa Pig”.