Paul Townend took the top rider title for the first time after Al Boum Photo’s successful defence of the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup gave him a fifth winner of the week.

Immortality doesn’t come easily and, ultimately, Paul Townend’s mount had his head in front where it matters, writes Darren Norris.

After a sluggish start to the Festival, Willie Mullins’ team found stride late on Wednesday, upped the pace with a double on Thursday, and when Monkfish edged out compatriots Latest Exhibition and Fury Road in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle, it was a third on the day and a sixth in total for the Closutton maestro.

The Willie Mullins-trained Burning Victory ran out a fortuitous winner of the JCB Triumph Hurdle, the opening race of the final day of the Cheltenham Festival, after 5-2 favourite Goshen dramatically unseated rider Jamie Moore when miles clear at the final flight.

The was a sense of foreboding around Cheltenham ahead of the opening race on day three of the Festival, those present waiting on news as to whether there would by a day four, writes Darren Norris

He had to wait four years but Min finally got the Cheltenham Festival he so richly deserved when getting the better of Saint Calvados and A Plus Tard in the Ryanair Chase.

Cheltenham Gold Cup victor Al Boum Photo oozed class in making a winning reappearance in the Savills New Year’s Day Chase at Tramore.

Last season was a frustrating one for many trainers as they struggled to get their horses to the races due to the quick ground.

Douvan defied a 569-day absence to win the Clonmel Oil Chase on his long-awaited return to action for Willie Mullins.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s the philosophy Willie Mullins plans to adopt as he plots Al Boum Photo’s Cheltenham Gold Cup defence.

Leading trainer for the fourth successive year in Galway, champion trainer Willie Mullins continued in sparkling form with a double in Cork yesterday, highlighted by the easy win of odds-on favourite Pravalaguna in the featured Joe Walsh Memorial Hurdle.

Only five went to post for the Colm Quinn BMW Listed Novice Hurdle which opened the card on day two of the Galway Festival, and yet only a quarter of a point separated the first three in the betting.

Shane Breen will be hoping for a repeat of his form a fortnight ago when lining out in Shanghai this week for the latest round of the Global Champions League.

For the third time in seven runnings, trainer Willie Mullins took the Suir Valley Chase at Clonmel, and on this occasion it was the Paul Townend-ridden Acapella Bourgeois who prevailed, leading home stable-companions Yorkhill and Polidam.

Al Boum Photo was given a hero’s welcome as the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup winner paraded through the village of Leighlinbridge on Monday evening.

My ducks, as Nicky English might have said, are drowning. The first three days have gone depressingly badly. I’ve had one or two placed horses here and there but not a single winner, not even anything that ran sufficiently well to lose by a nose or a short head. I cannot hit the woodwork, never mind put the ball over the bar.

One of the principle reasons that National Hunt racing is more popular than the flat is that you build relationships with horses that can sustain for years and this was proved again and again this week.

There were scenes of unbridled joy in the winner’s enclosure at Cheltenham today as Willie Mullins finally got his hands on the Gold Cup.

Paul Townend four winners, Ruby Walsh three and Rachael Blackmore two, the fascinating characters who largely dominated last Sunday’s racing in Ireland - at Punchestown and Cork, writes Pat Keane.

Ruby Walsh produced a brilliant ride on Easy Game in Navan last Sunday, silencing the gutless social media critics who were quick to write him off as he struggled to come back after a series of injuries, writes Pat Keane

The Mitsubishi Motors meeting at Badminton brought its usual mix of drama and a touch of controversy at the weekend, and, all things considered, it was a satisfactory event for Irish riders.

“All in all everyone is happy and it’s onwards and upwards from here,” said Irish rider Shane Breen after Sunday’s nations cup league opener in Samorin, Slovakia.

If ever there was a good case for televising stewards’ inquiries, it can surely be made following that Paul Townend debacle at Punchestown on Tuesday, writes Pat Keane.

Bellshill saw off stable companion Djakadam to claim top honours in the Coral Punchestown Gold Cup.

Latest: "I wish to apologise to connections and to punters."

It may look as though winners are coming easily to Gordon Elliott right now but he is ably assisted from the saddle and Davy Russell was at his brilliant best aboard tricky customer Lieutenant Colonel when taking the UCC Horse Racing Society Hurdle on Student Raceday in Mallow.

The admirable Un De Sceaux can run the opposition ragged in the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham this afternoon, writes Pat Keane. 

He is, quite simply, the most hyped horse since Golden Cygnet. It is just as well Gordon Elliott’s Samcro isn’t human, because, if he was, the weight of expectation might overwhelm him, writes Pat Keane.

There are moments when you are compelled to sit up and take note.

A cool-headed clear from Greg Broderick on MHS Going Global last night ensured Ireland scraped through to tomorrow’s €1.5m Furusiyya Series final in Barcelona, Spain.

He is acknowledged as one of the most talented riders in jump racing, in demand on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Sempre Medici justified short-priced favouritism to win the Red Mills Trial Hurdle at Gowran Park on Saturday.

Deciding between riding at Tramore and Cheltenham this afternoon was pretty straight-forward.

Trish Ryan and Sam Watson had one thing in common after their dressage tests in the CCI three-star at the Ballindenisk International Horse Trials, in that they were both surprised.

Jockeys Paul Townend and Luke Dempsey made the headlines, for contrasting reasons, in Ballinrobe last night.

Paul Townend and Willie Mullins shared a double with Childrens List and Westerner Lady in Downpatrick yesterday.

A return to the Galway Hurdle is on the agenda for The Game Changer, who got Davy Russell back amongst the winners with a pillar-to-post victory in the Wallstone Financial Novice Chase yesterday evening at Limerick.

In-form Paul Townend deputised successfully for Bryan Cooper on the Mouse Morris-trained Ravished in the €50,000 Midlands National at Kilbeggan last night.

I’ll Be Your Clown swooped late under a determined Chris Hayes to deny favourite Unsinkable in the €100,000 Irish Stallion Farms Nasrullah Handicap in Navan last night.