THE allure of the sporting arena is that it offers the chance of redemption was one of Rich Ricci’s remarks on the pre-Cheltenham circuit. He experienced it when Annie Power duly got her compensation for last year’s fall when she won the Champion Hurdle.

On the jockey front, both Ruby Walsh and Bryan Cooper had their share of critics in the festival build up. Walsh, after a few last fence falls and Cooper after Don Cossack’s King George fall, and rides in paticular on Tombstone and Road To Riches at Leopardstown.