History was made on Friday afternoon at Prestbury Park as the Willie Mullins-trained, Paul Townend-ridden and Marie and Joe Donnelly-owned Al Boum Photo joined the illustrious band of back-to-back winners of the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Reigning champion Al Boum Photo is one of 20 horses still in contention for the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup following the latest scratchings deadline for the six non-novice Grade Ones at next month’s Festival.

In recent years, Festival Trials Day has more than lived up to its billing with 16 runners over the last five years going on to win at Cheltenham in March.

Forget about it. Erase it from your memory entirely. No need to ever mention it again. The monkey is off his back forever. After all the near-misses and the talk of the glaring omission from his CV, Willie Mullins has now won the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup. Al Boum Photo and Paul Townend ensured so with an authoritative display in the feature on the final day of the 2019 Festival.

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.