Thrills and spills at the Cheltenham festival but low crowds still a problem

The quality of the racing at the festival was high, even if punters were left stranded by some painful defeats for odds-on favourites. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

A sense that anything could happen on any given day – a sense that had perhaps been receding at Cheltenham’s festival in recent years – roared back with a vengeance in the West Country, leaving the bookmakers’ social media feeds searching for ways to say “We’re all RICH!” that did not rub too much salt into the punters’ wounds. “Firmly in front,” was how one press release put it, after “a week of mixed results” for the backers.

Quite the understatement. There were seven odds-on shots, equalling the record since it moved to four days, in 2005. Two managed to get across the line: Kopek Des Bordes, at 4-6, in the opening Supreme Novice Hurdle, and Lossiemouth, also a 4-6 shot, in the Mares’ Hurdle, the same day.