Ed Chamberlin reflects on the action from day three of the Cheltenham Festival

• Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle report
• Marsh Novices' Chase report
• Ryanair Chase report
• Mares' Novices' Hurdle report
• Rest of Thursday Cheltenham review

That was the best finish to a horse race I’ve seen for a very long time.

In truth the Marsh Novices’ Chase was compelling from the off but to see Faugheen battling up the hill like a lion at the age of 12 and Samcro and Melon flash past the post in a head-bobber of a finish was fantastic.

Cheltenham was literally rocking afterwards, it was a brilliant start to the day and the perfect scenario now is that Faugheen comes out of the race in tip-top shape and has one last hurrah in front of his adoring Irish fans at Punchestown.

At times I’ve felt like a viewer this week, enjoying the Sir Anthony McCoy and Ruby Walsh analysis on the podium. One of my favourite pieces came before the Pertemps Final when they talked of how Barry Geraghty and Davy Russell were stalking each other this week. Two men riding at the very top of the game, full of confidence, who went on to fight out the finish to that race.

Sire Du Berlais came out on top; which represented another brilliant training performance from Gordon Elliott. Owner JP McManus has won every handicap hurdle at the meeting this week and I know the Martinstown team are very sweet on Front View in the closing Martin Pipe on Friday too.

The Ryanair was another intriguing tactical battle which Min eventually won, Ruby screaming his delight when Paul Townend closed the door on Saint Calvacos on the run-in.

It was a result that mattered a lot to the Ricci team, Joe Chambers, their racing manager, channelling his inner Kevin Keegan at the Sky Bet Preview Evening at Doncaster when roaring “I’d love it if he won”.

Afterwards we interviewed Rich Ricci and Andrew Brooks, owner of the runner-up, together. Andrew is a class act and I’m sure every ITV viewer was delighted to see him quickly in the winners’ enclosure himself after Simply The Betts took the Brown Advisory.

Faugheen was brilliant in the opener – but Paisley Park showed horses aren’t machines when running below-par in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle. He just didn’t fire on the day and while he’ll be back, people were genuinely delighted to see Rebecca Curtis returning to the big stage following Lisnagar Oscar’s win.

It was great too to see fellow Sporting Life columnist Daryl Jacob steer the impressive Concertista to victory in the Daylesford Mares' Novices' Hurdle. One of the good guys, he was understandably all smiles afterwards.

Now we’ll wait and see what happens with sport in this country as the coronavirus continues to strengthen its grip but I’m thrilled in a week when people have questioned why we look to entertain a broad audience on our programmes, to see such healthy viewing figures.

On Wednesday the average audience across the afternoon broadcast was just under a million (962k) and the audience share of 15 per cent were the highest for the second day since records began in 2003. The peak of 1.377m was the highest for more than a decade.

This follows an opening day when we drew our highest audience share since records began in 2003 at 15 per cent and a peak of over 1.4m was the highest for almost a decade.

I’m absolutely thrilled that jumps racing continues to grow in popularity and now we can look forward to one of the biggest afternoons of the lot – Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup day. It promises to be another special day.

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