DID you know you can take a flight from Dublin Airport as late as 10.45am and still be in the Cheltenham grandstand 10 minutes before the first race?

You may have to plead with your taxi driver to break the speed limit and you will need to sprint the final kilometre to the racecourse but it can be done. I expect Willie Mullins will give it a go next year.

Tony and Marie Costello from Newmarket-on-Fergus were there in plenty of time to see their son Tom steer the family-owned Asian Master into fourth place in the Supreme and had their moment in the parade ring afterwards.

Not bad for a horse who was a six-year-old point-to-point winner a year earlier to the day and was only sent to Willie Mullins for a hunter chase career.

Mind you, this was west of Ireland point-to-point ground. An emergency crew was still pumping water away from the entrance gates as racing started.

The famous roar of the crowd before the first race had seemed slightly more muted than in previous years but the noise levels were reassuringly deafening as Slade Steel and Mystical Power battled it out up the run-in.

As the day went on, however, a few people remarked to me that they felt the atmosphere was “a bit dead”. Certainly, State Man did not seem to receive the reception he deserved, either crossing the line or on his return to the winner’s enclosure.

The subdued mood was noted during Wednesday’s ITV coverage too, with presenter Ed Chamberlin wondering if the dominance of the Willie Mullins yard might be having an effect.

Wandering around the enclosures later in the day, you were in constant danger of running into Rich Ricci who, as usual, was avoiding watching his horses run. Imagine spending all that money on those horses and then going out of your way to not see them run. He might as well have stayed in the car park.

Actually, no, the car parks were reportedly a disaster area after racing, as racegoers found themselves stuck in the mud. We were delighted to take a lift from Tully Travel whose buses made a quick escape while the NH Chase was being run.

There may have been no Honeysuckle or Constitution Hill this year but all on board the Tully bus agreed that the Tuesday of the Festival had delivered plenty of entertainment and that a one-day trip was the best way to enjoy it.

That view was vindicated on Wednesday morning when news of the Cross Country cancellation came through and the mass withdrawal of the Henderson horses. The Tuesday never disappoints and a flying one-day visit is a good way to enjoy it.