One of the most unforgettable Cheltenham celebrations as Sprinter Sacre rises again

Greatest Festival Moments - No. 7
Sprinter Sacre regains his crown

It wasn't the most exciting festival race of that year, or any other year for that matter. Sprinter Sacre was simply better than Un De Sceaux, perhaps by slightly more than the three-and-a-half-length winning margin suggested, but not spectacularly so. The old champion regained his crown, but it wasn't a performance marked by any replication of his former imperious swagger.

Good, you might say, but hardly great – not the way his effortless 19-length demolition of Sizing Europe had been great in 2013 – so why was it that the grandstand roof strained at its moorings, the crowded enclosures thundered to his hoofbeats and grown men cried on the lawns as he passed the post? How to explain that exquisite moment of emotional release in response to a mere horse race? To understand that, we need to dig deeper.