EMOTIONS will be running high at this year’s Festival if Barry Connell’s yellow and navy silks are carried to victory.

At a meeting that kicks off with the Sky Bet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle renamed in the late Michael O’Sullivan’s honour, there would be no shortage of poignancy if those recognisable colours could come to the fore on a stage where the bright young rider savoured his finest hour for Connell on Marine Nationale in the 2023 curtain-raiser.