We can only imagine how long ago five years seems to brilliant trainer

The rest of the card was mostly attrition for the punters

The Festival has lost none of its intensity since expanding to a fourth day in 2005, but those who counselled that "less is more" may yet feel they had a point when they contemplate today's card. Elevated to the Thursday centrepiece, the Ladbrokes World Hurdle has hitherto borrowed lustre first from Inglis Drever, who won three times in four years, and then from Big Buck's, whose record-breaking spree of 18 wins has incorporated the last four runnings.

He bestrides the whole meeting, much its most feasible colossus. True, only the desperate or deranged will actually be tempted by the available odds, but nobody goes to a coronation to sell ermine. And the sort of show you get from Sprinter Sacre tends to be its own reward.

Odds-on favourite is headstrong and jumps poorly before claiming Arkle Chase victory

Britain’s speed-skating team are the latest sport to try to tap into British cycling’s remarkable run of success in an attempt to win a first Olympic gold at next year’s Winter Games.

The seemingly united front of the Paralympian Oscar Pistorius’ family, who huddled together in the public gallery throughout his bail hearing, began to crack today.

The family of Oscar Pistorius has been caught up in a public row over whether guns are a necessary protection against crime in South Africa.

Just as the British athletics team are preparing to fly out to the European Indoor Championships, which open in Gothenburg on Friday morning, another medal is about to belatedly wing its way into the GB haul from the last championships.

Oscar Pistorius is due to hold a private memorial service for Reeva Steenkamp, the 29-year-old model he shot at his home on St Valentine’s Day. The service was planned at the Pretoria home of his uncle Arnold, where the Olympic athlete has been staying since he was released on bail awaiting trial on a premeditated-murder charge.

Britain's Mo Farah outsprinted Ethiopia's Gebre Gebremariam to win the New Orleans half-marathon yesterday.

Tizzard points his charge at Ryanair Chase after stamina test disappears in challenger's crashing fall

Court hears Reeva Steenkamp was shot through bathroom door as details of tragic scene emerge

Almost time, then, to pull up the drawbridge and count the ammunition. The Cheltenham Festival is now only three weeks away on Tuesday, and few trainers will want to leave the candidature of horses contingent on a hard race in the meantime. So while a handful will still be seeking late admission, some of the final trials of strength are staged on Saturday.