CHELTENHAM is not dead yet.

Last Sunday the racecourse chief executive issued a statement acknowledging that crowd numbers would be down significantly this week, and sure enough Tuesday’s official attendance of 55,000 was 5,000 lower than the year before.

But if you were in the grandstand for the first race of the Festival it didn’t seem like anyone was missing.

Sure, the traditional roar to mark the start of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle was strong but it was a whimper compared to the noise made when Kopek Des Bordes hit the front after the second last flight.

As the favourite made powered up the straight, so too did the decibel level. The sound could only be described as thunderous or deafening when the odds-on jolly passed the post. Caps, racecards, scarves and newspapers were flung to the skies – it was quite the spectacle. A truly electric atmosphere that you felt lucky to experience in the flesh.

Seconds later, an impromptu rendition of Olé Olé Olé rose up from the stands, no doubt started by that cohort of younger male racegoers who love nothing more than a multiple bet involving a few supposed good things.

Even the cynical racing writers watching in the press viewing area – who have seen it all and never show a reaction - were visibly stunned (or at least amused) by the crowd’s reactions.

This year’s Supreme had been named in honour of the late Michael O’Sullivan. A few minutes before the race the packed stands applauded when an image of Michael was shown on the big screen. There has been a minute’s silence observed earlier in the afternoon.

The O’Sullivan family were at the races and guest of honour Zara Philips made a point of meeting them, and she also had a chat with Michael’s girlfriend, Charlotte Giles.

Those punters who like smashing into the Mullins hotpots got their comeuppance in race two but were back in business an hour later when Lossiemouth dotted up. Cue another blast of Olé Olé Olé but perhaps not quite as loud this time.

Biggest shock

Of course the biggest shock of all was yet to come. The fall of Constitution Hill at the fourth last in the Champion Hurdle sucked the life out of the grandstand. The long-awaited match has now been turned into a walkover, with Brighterdaysahead set to repeat her Christmas demolition of State Man.

Or so you thought.

What happened next will be talked about for as long as the sport continues to exist. How did Willie Mullins get State Man back to his best? And what was it that caused the horse to do an ‘Annie Power’ at the last?

My colleague Mark Boylan immediately wondered if there was a shadow in front of the last flight which caused State Man to take off a little early. Mark’s observation that the Champion Hurdle was run at a later time than usual this year – the exact same time as the Annie Power race – gave his theory legs, so to speak.

But photographer Caroline Norris dismissed that hypothesis. She was stood by the final hurdle and her sequence of shots showed that State Man clipped the top bar but got his front legs over safely. However, the hurdle section flipped back and caught his hind legs and that was what brought him down.

It’s impossible to be sure on the video evidence. But, to be fair, we are talking about two Champion Hurdle winners falling and they shouldn’t need excuses.

For the rest of the day and night it was all anyone could talk about.

“Did you ever see a race like that?”

“That was the maddest race I’ve ever seen.”

Say what you like but Cheltenham had promised drama and it had delivered. What a day it was.