Nowadays, the sounds that predominate on Hop Island, Cork, are horses’ hooves but in the mid-18th century it was more likely to have been the sounds of Bach or Mozart.

Grand National-winning jockey Jason Maguire will miss this year’s renewal of the world’s greatest steeplechase as he sits out the rest of the campaign to recover from injury.

Jockey Barry Geraghty believes the state of the going on Betfred Cheltenham Gold Cup day will have a big bearing on whether Bobs Worth can retain his crown on March 14.