Michael O’Leary doesn’t strike me as a man who many people say thank you to.
Even when Ryanair get to play their fanfare for landing on time there are cynics aboard every plane who claim the forecast flight time was the greatest work of fiction since Charles Dickens last laid down his goose quill pen, allowing the budget airline team vital wiggle room.
But today I say thank you to Michael, his brother Eddie, Gordon Elliott and everyone else who contributed to the decision to run Brighterdaysahead in the Unibet Champion Hurdle.
Those in the know have been tapping their noses for weeks now. Don't panic they said, she's bound for the blue riband. But with the Mares’ Hurdle sitting there as a potential penalty kick, the rest of us still had the fear factor.
And when Elliott told the assembled media at a Jockey Club press event last month that the right race for Brighterdaysahead on day one of the Cheltenham Festival was the one she was most likely to win, an alarm bell rang.
That would of course be the mares’ but all along the actual 'right race' for the Gigginstown star was the Champion. And the Champion is where she goes.
