AFTER months – if not years – of anticipation, the Cheltenham Festival can seem to be over obscenely quickly, though the countdown to the next one starts as soon as the stragglers in the Grand Annual Chase cross the line on the Friday.

Any one-off review will struggle to do justice to four days of top-notch action, so this time-based one will come in two installments, this week and next, starting with an unforgettable opening day on Tuesday.