Simon Holt nominates some of his commentary highlights including Kauto Star's battles with great rival Denman

In the belief that the answer is for viewers to decide, I find it a slightly embarrassing question while accepting personal satisfaction with some race descriptions as well as disappointment with quite a few others.

Many of my favourite races have taken place at the Cheltenham Festival, and my love of the meeting and the jumping horse has led to some emotional calls including a cringing moment when my voice broke horribly as Edredon Bleu and Direct Route fought their way up the hill in the millennium Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Some years later, my admiration for Sprinter Sacre spilled over close to the finish in the ‘impossible dream coming true’ commentary accompanying the great horse’s remarkable comeback win in the 2016 Queen Mother, three years after his victory in 2013.

Why the impossible dream? The answer is that it was the theme of a feature on Channel 4’s programme earlier in the day which used the well-known song from the Broadway musical ‘Man Of La Mancha’ as a sound-track.

After Sprinter’s many travails, it seemed a perfect choice by the backroom team and, I’ll be honest, the line was deliberately used not only because it seemed so appropriate but also to accompany the end-of-programme montage.

After becoming the main commentator for Channel 4, my first important race was Istabraq’s third win in the Champion Hurdle in 2000. In the 20 years since, I don’t think we’ve seen a better winner of the first day championship and his class and slickness over the obstacles were outstanding. If pushed, I would say Rooster Booster was just as impressive in 2003 when storming up the hill under Richard Johnson, and he was an easy horse to like.

In 2002, Best Mate won his first Gold Cup but I remember less of the race than the aftermath when our roving cameraman captured Henrietta Knight and Terry Biddlecombe running into a tearful embrace on the horse-walk, like a scene from a Hollywood movie.

The horse’s all important third win, which emulated the great Arkle, was a tense and dramatic affair as Jim Culloty found himself in a pocket approaching the home turn and, even though Best Mate jumped the last two fences with his usual grace and efficiency, he was all out close home to hold off Sir Rembrandt. A nail-biting finish if ever there was one.

Another horse I loved calling was Moscow Flyer whose defeat of Azertyuiop and Well Chief in the 2004 Tingle Creek at Sandown was one of the highest quality jumping races of the last two decades. After blundering Barry Geraghty out of the saddle at Cheltenham earlier that year, Moscow confirmed the Sandown form at the 2005 Festival in quite magnificent style beating Well Chief by two lengths with Azertyuiop (who blundered at the water jump) third. The hats were in the air as he passed the post and, most deservedly, he was a hugely popular horse in Britain as well as in Ireland.

Inglis Drever was another favourite. Under a great ride from Denis O’Regan, he came out best in a tremendous joust with the French-trained Kasbah Bliss in 2008 to win a third World Hurdle and would always gallop away from the last flight like a terrier and in the manner of the former Champion Hurdler Monksfield, a horse from my youth, who had tremendous battling qualities.

Few had a greater will to win than Hardy Eustace who came out best in perhaps the most dramatic Champion Hurdle finish I have ever seen when retaining his title in 2005. Hardy by name and hardy by nature, he looked set to be overhauled by the classy and cruising Harchibald (under a motionless Paul Carberry) with Brave Inca battling bravely on the stands side, but he was just too tough for the runner-up who, despite enjoying a fine career, always tended to promise more than he delivered.

For drama, A P McCoy’s act of escapology aboard Wichita Lineman in what is now the Ultima Chase on the first day of the meeting is hard to beat. Clumsy at several fences and not over exerting himself, the horse finally began to respond to the persistent urgings of the 20-times champ from the second last, and the pair produced an extraordinary effort to catch Maljimar in the dying strides.

Much more stylish was the superb Vautour whose stunning round of jumping in the 2015 JLT Novices’ Chase (he won the Ryanair a year later) was as good as it gets.

But, if I had to choose one race, or sequence of races, that have captivated me more than any others at Cheltenham, it has to be the Gold Cups featuring Kauto Star and Denman. Successful in brilliant style in 2007, Kauto became the only horse to regain the crown two years later having been pulverised by his stable-companion in 2008.

In terms of their respective abilities, I was always in the Kauto camp but, even though he was probably a bit below-par in Denman’s year, I think ‘The Tank’ was unstoppable that day producing an unforgettable display of bludgeoning power and grinding resolution.

I feel very privileged to have described so many great Festival moments.

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