The return of the king truly a day to savour

RUBY WALSH’S autobiography has been lining bookshelves for some months now but days like yesterday should ensure that the collaboration between jockey and writer will add chapters in the years to come.

Three wins on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival is, in itself, a standout achievement. Coming on the back of a four-month, injury-enforced, absence, it would be miraculous were it achieved by anyone but the Kildare pilot.

People worship — or at least they used to — at the altar of Tiger Woods. They swoon over the exploits of Lionel Messi but Walsh is a modern-day sporting phenomenon in his own right and one we will only really appreciate when he is gone.