Flashback: Mad experts to Peppa Pig - the interviews that spoke volumes at Cheltenham

A vintage Cheltenham Festival. Four days that just kept on giving. The best ever, no question.

And the action on the course was not too bad, either.

Never mind the fabulous racing, the post-race interviews in 2019 were top notch.

Joy, pain, delight, despair, tears, fun, anger, regrets, the moments after the big races had it all.

Below are a selection of our favourites from the 2019 Cheltenham Festival.

TUESDAY:

Klassical Dream’s victory in the SkyBet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle was bittersweet for part-owner Joanna Coleman.

She told Stewart Machin about her late husband, John, and how she had brought some of his ashes with her to the racecourse so he could be there with her.

“A tough couple of weeks”.

Rich Ricci fights to keep his emotions in check after talking about the final flight fall of Benie Des Dieux in the OLBG Mares’ Hurdle. The owner apologised to punters and ended the meeting without a success.

Bryony Frost hogged a lot of headlines at the Festival but the softly spoken Rachael Blackmore was no less proud in victory.

She won twice at the meeting, starting with the impressive A Plus Tard on the opening afternoon.

WEDNESDAY:

“He’s up there looking down on us today, I hope he’s very proud. God I wish he was here.”

After winning the Weatherbys Champion Bumper on Envoi Allen, Jamie Codd spoke with huge emotion about his late brother, Willie, the former point-to-point jockey/trainer and dad of two young children.

THURSDAY:

Lydia asked four questions and Ted Walsh responded with four minutes of answers.

As he warmed to his theme about equine welfare and negative comments about the National Hunt Chase, he said: “If you don’t like racing, go watch Peppa Pig.”

Our clip on Twitter has so far been viwed almost 200,000 times, been retweeted 1,300 times, been liked by 4,600 and attracted more than 230 comments, virtually all of them supportive of his views.

For the first 73 seconds, this is a standard (not that a Festival winner can ever be standard) interview between Lydia and the measured Noel Fehily.

Then, out of the blue, the 43-year-old jockey crumples as he exclusively reveals he is soon to retire.

Voice quivering, fingers sweeping through his hair, Fehily struggles to hold it together as Lydia reaches out an arm to tries and compose him.

Bryony Frost tells Lydia about the bravery of Frodon and all the “conversations” she and her horse had during a thrilling Ryanair Chase.

Frost is a brilliant rider – and a brilliant communicator.

An interviewer’s dream.

Lydia had to give Paul Nicholls a minute to compose himself after Frodon’s Ryanair Chase success.

Even after that time he was still breathless, giddy with excitement.

"That was just awesome. That was brilliant. That was perfect. He’s just the most amazing horse you will ever train.”

Refreshingly, the multiple champion trainer still celebrates every Festival success as if it his first.

FRIDAY:

Willie Mullins and Lydia shared five minutes after the trainer had finally saddled a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner.

He spoke about all elements of his life and career, including a humorous mention of his mum, who apparently is in her early 90s but turned up for the meeting in typically "good form".

“My body’s tingling, I swear to God I’m shaking all over.”

There was an element of Gold Cup-winning jockey Paul Townend being in shock after guiding Al Boum Photo to glory in chasing’s blue riband event.

“You are all mad!” Nigel Twiston-Davies gives his verdicts on the “experts” who have dismissed Bristol De Mai as being merely a Haydock specialist after his grey had finished a fine third in the Gold Cup.

Has Kielan Woods stopped smiling yet?

The 66-1 success of Croco Bay in the Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Chase left the 26-year-old floating on air.

“I’ve been dreaming of this ever since I sat on a horse," he said of his first festival winner. "What a little horse, not many Festival winners have a prep run around Worcester in July.”

It was a win few punters willl recall in years to come. Woods will never forget it.

So few jockeys get to celebrate a Festival winner.

Behind all the winners, there are a stream of losers and long faces. Bubbles burst. Dreams punctured.

Paddy Brennan spoke for them all, in a succint 25-second chat, after Bun Doran had finished second in the Grand Annual after looking likely to win. “It’s so hard here, 3277 days since I had a winner and it’s just one more,” he lamented.

Roll on next year.