CHELTENHAM at 6.30am on the first day of the Festival, last year. The land of perpetual hope. Just the hills, the empty stands and a colourless sky, not yet woken up, but about to.

You can hear the Irish accents as usual, and then a few Scottish ones. Kenny Alexander isn’t usually here this early but this isn’t a usual day at Cheltenham. He is along with his friends and family to meet Rachael Blackmore, Henry de Bromhead, Peter Molony and of course Honeysuckle.