THE allure of the sporting arena is that it offers the chance of redemption was one of Rich Ricci’s remarks on the pre-Cheltenham circuit. He experienced it when Annie Power duly got her compensation for last year’s fall when she won the Champion Hurdle.

On the jockey front, both Ruby Walsh and Bryan Cooper had their share of critics in the festival build up. Walsh, after a few last fence falls and Cooper after Don Cossack’s King George fall, and rides in paticular on Tombstone and Road To Riches at Leopardstown.

In the aftermath of their two great championship race victories last week, both displayed enough emotions to show that the comments had hurt.

The vindication on the days that matter made it all the more compelling viewing as both riders rose to the occasion, confounding critics in the best and most decisive of ways.

Cooper remarked on how the press had criticised him but to be fair, most of what was reported came principally from the preview night scene and was a general opinion expressed by the public and many racing professionals.

The problem with preview nights is that general racing chit-chat rarely gets reported. Only in those after-dark pre-Cheltenham sessions do the opinions get reported into the general arena and take legs.

Many comments were simply daft. Ruby was riding for the bookmakers, Davy Russell was more suited to Don Cossack because his legs were longer?

On one hand, jockeys are not subjected to the abuse of soccer players with 20,000 fans chanting taunts about family and friends. Inflated wages make insults more easily brushed off but GAA players are subjected to serious abuse on and off the pitch.

It’s been a recent criticism of general racing broadcasts and a decline in viewers, that they were less interesting because there was so little critical analysis compared to other sports.

There is no desire to knock someone when they are down but surely many would have wondered at Paddy Brennan’s decision to pull out and set Cue Card racing going to that tricky third last fence in the Gold Cup.

On the other hand no sport offers so little time to celebrate a big win. Forty minutes later a jockey can be whacked into the ground.

Walsh took crashing falls off Voix Du Reve on Wednesday and before his bid for the Gold Cup, he had been smashed to the ground when Dicosimo fell in the County Hurdle. Just 40 minutes later he had gone out and come back without Long Dog. The sight of Fernando Alonso’s F1 car smashing up last week was horrifying but he walked away unscathed. No jockey could expect such fortune.

There’s little time to dwell on the success but Walsh and Cooper handled the pressure and shrugged off any doubters. The two riders, at either end of their careers, were properly vindicated on the biggest stage.