IT was a superb meeting with any number of positives, among them a record crowd on Saturday, a horse whose name will resonate with non-racing people for a very long time, the unfailingly modest Robbie Power topping the jockeys’ table with three winners and everything played out in a warm, friendly atmosphere – not something that can be taken for granted these days.

Aintree deserved a champion like Tiger Roll. For several years it struggled in the face of Cheltenham’s inexorable rise but it was a real, old-fashioned Liverpool occasion last week, helped by a sustained Irish challenge for all the top prizes.