Why Ally McCoist got fined by Rangers every Cheltenham Festival

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What are you most looking forward to about being back at the festival? Ally McCoist, 59, football legend

I've loved going to the Cheltenham Festival since right back to the days when I used to get fined on an annual basis just for being there.

One memory stands out. In 1990 the Rangers manager Graeme Souness announced a surprise training session for the following morning. Unfortunately, I was already down at Cheltenham waiting for the festival to start the next day. I had to catch the Tuesday 7am flight from Birmingham to Glasgow but I made sure I flew back in the opposite direction the same afternoon and got to Cheltenham in time to see Katabatic win the last race. He got me out of a hole in the Grand Annual – and the cost of my flights was covered as well!

This year I'll be doing the talkSPORT breakfast programme from the Coral box on all four days alongside big Alan Brazil and I'm really looking forward to it. We'll be at the course from about 5.15am and we're then at the track for the rest of the day. That means we really do have to pace ourselves. As you might expect, some pace themselves better than others.

I have a wonderful friend, old Ivor from Chipping Camden, who has been a great pal of mine for 100 years. We watch some of the racing together and also always go to the box of Michael Masterton, who gives us wonderful hospitality. We're blessed to have some amazing vantage points of the action, including for the Gold Cup, which, for me, is always the big one.

There are some things in sport that are just incredibly special – and among them is the noise at the start of the festival's first race and then again before the Gold Cup. Throughout the festival the action is the best you'll find anywhere by a country mile, but it's actually the camaraderie, the punters, the fans and the whole occasion that makes the festival so special. The racing is the icing on a superb cake.

Read more on the Cheltenham Festival:

Five unforgettable Cheltenham Festival races that changed in an instant

Cheltenham's greatest gambles, including the £900,000 punt from 66-1 to 16-1

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