New-look Cheltenham festival delivers day of drama for smaller audience

Racegoers in the grandstand react as Constitution Hill falls in the Champion Hurdle on day one of the Cheltenham festival. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Once the gasps had subsided following a Champion Hurdle that upended every script and expectation, a most unlikely serenade began. “Oh, Jeremy Scott!” the Cheltenham crowd sang, the voices getting louder and meatier with every refrain. “Oh, Jeremy Scott!”

Scott, the trainer of the shock 25‑1 winner Golden Ace, smiled at the absurdity of it all, before finding the perfect response from Only Fools And Horses. “As Del Boy says: ‘Who dares wins, Rodney.’”