BRIAN Hughes’s gesture in lending his ice machine to Davy Russell, who had injured his knee following a fall in Wednesday’s cross-country chase at Cheltenham, helped the Co Cork jockey land the leading rider’s title there.

Among Russell’s four winners was the Gordon Elliott-trained Shantou gelding The Storyteller whose victory came in Thursday’s Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate Handicap Chase in the colours of a delighted Pat Sloan.