NOEL Meade has been involved in some of the most iconic moments of the Cheltenham Festival (good and bad) over the last few decades.

Think of images like Harchibald cruising on the run-in of the 2005 Champion Hurdle but not being able to get past Hardy Eustace. Sausalito Bay mastering Best Mate in the 2000 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Nicanor turning over Denman in the 2006 Royal and Sun Alliance Novices’ Hurdle and Hill Society losing out by a nostril in the 1998 Arkle Chase, when it took 20 minutes for the result to be called. Paul Carberry doing his best on Harbour Pilot to foil Best Mate’s three Gold Cups in a row.