Tears of joy for Kelly with first festival success on Coo Star Sivola

Sometimes you can never get over a wrong decision. Lizzie Kelly won that battle in the build-up to the meeting and reaped the rewards with a first festival success aboard favourite Coo Star Sivola.

Kelly had been wiping away the tears for some time following last year's festival. Her decision to partner Diable De Sivola rather than winner and stablemate Flying Tiger in the Fred Winter backfired painfully.

However, on her tenth festival ride the conditional jockey's tears were those of joy after steering the Babbit Racing-owned Coo Star Sivola to a narrow victory.

The tears were not restricted to the rider either, with trainer and the rider's stepfather Nick Williams beaming with joy and weeping with pride.

A trip to meet sports psychologist Michael Caulfield at a British Racing School course in Newmarket proved pivotal for Kelly in the challenge of getting over last year.

Kelly, 24, said: “Someone said to me once that Cheltenham is three things: tips, tickets and disappointments.

View the full race replay along with the result here

“I thought, ‘What a heathen’, how could anyone think that something so beautiful is so desperate. I knew exactly what they meant by the end of last year’s festival. I was on the floor and crying.

“I’ve had a lot of mental issues coming into this week. I couldn’t stop thinking about how it went wrong last year, but Michael Caulfield has helped me immensely and thankfully everything's fallen into place."

The finish to the Ultima Handicap Chase was a thriller. Shantou Flyer stayed on relentlessly in the final furlong, but it was Kelly who drove and roared Coo Star Sivola home.

She said: “The hill seemed like it was never ending. It felt like the steepest and biggest hill of all time, but Coo was a star.

"He’s the easiest ride on the planet – I’d put my grandmother on him – and it’s handy he’s so incredibly talented as well. This just means the world.”

Coo Star Sivola and Lizzie Kelly are led into the winner's enclosure at CheltenhamCredit: Grossick Racing 07710461723

Williams' tears of joy were mainly for Kelly but also for the apple of his eye on the equine front.

He said: "Coo is my favourite horse so this is just wonderful. I ride him most the time at home and I groom him every day – he's one of my little pets."

It was a day to remember for all the family and it will also stick in the mind of James Bowen, who on his first festival ride finished a neck second on Shantou Flyer for Richard Hobson – a performance described by the rider’s proud mother Karen as incredible.

The rider said: “That was great and gutting at the same time. If we’d winged the last we'd have won, simple as that.

"He’s run a blinder and the atmosphere was unreal. I can’t expect all my festival rides to go like that.”

Results and analysis

Members can read the latest exclusive interviews, news analysis and comment available from 6pm daily on racingpost.com