You can love something and still find fault with it - so here's how I'd improve the Cheltenham Festival

It has been 20 years since the last three-day Cheltenham Festival. The final act of the trilogy was Sporazene being lifted home by a 24-year-old Ruby Walsh in the County Hurdle. He was 7-1 joint-favourite along with Harchibald, who cruised to the front at the top of the hill but was there about a year too soon. Paul Carberry learned his lesson; he never did that again.

The 2004 festival was almost unrecognisable from the one we know now. There were 20 races, only six of them on the opening day, and Tuesday ended with the Pertemps Final. There were three odds-on shots over the course of the three days, but only Best Mate (8-11) obliged with Moscow Flyer (5-6) and Baracouda (8-11) both beaten.

The festival wasn't broken in 2004 but we tried to fix it anyway. More days, more races, more people, more everything. As Ireland editor Richard Forristal put it this week, more always seems to be the answer to everything. But maybe it has come to the stage where less is more.