YOU couldn’t help but feel sorry for Ruby Walsh at last year’s Cheltenham Festival. After a fall off Let’s Dance at Punchestown early in the season, everything was about getting back for the middle of March. That he did, and for it he was rewarded with a brilliant Grade 1 double on the first day – Footpad sensational in the Arkle, Benie Des Dieux admirably game in the Mares.

Then only as soon as the second race on the second day, when Al Boum Photo fell chasing after Presenting Percy up the hill in the RSA Chase, disaster struck when he aggravated the same leg in the incident. An unbelievable high to a gut-wrenching low.