The feature contest of Ladies Day, the £400,000 BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase, went to Willie Mullins as Il Etait Temps (5-2) came home the 10-length winner in the hands of Paul Townend. The master of Closutton was also responsible for the 5-6 Favourite Majborough but he raced keenly and failed to jump with any great fluency, eventually coming home in seventh in the two-mile chasing championship.

Willie Mullins said: “I thought Paul was very brave on him because he couldn’t go the pace they were setting for the first mile; he sat and sat, and coming down the hill we could all see that the further he was going, the better he was going. I nearly had a heart attack at the last fence though! But the horse has come to himself at last

“Taking the hood off and this ground made a big difference to him as well, I’d say. That was way his best performance at Cheltenham. I was wondering, was he a horse that didn’t like this place? But when we went through his form here we found excuses for every run, and perhaps it wasn’t so bad after all.

“We had to do something. Since the time he was a young horse he was always very keen. He’s always worn a hood, and then after Ascot we knew we had to change something, and we think that made a real difference.

“It probably took him 24 hours to recover when he came home from Ascot. You have to remember, he was a bit shaken and then he has to get on the ferry, which isn’t what you’d do really, but it was what we did, and once he got home he settled into his own routine and he recovered quite quickly.

“He was always going to run in this race, but we had to get the old spark back into him. I think Paul said it, he doesn’t need the hood anymore, so that was number one, and a few little tweaks at home after that, and we just galloped him a bit differently, a bit like Lossiemouth, and it’s worked. And I think the early pace here today, even though he couldn’t go that pace it suited him, and Paul - having someone like Paul who didn’t panic and try to keep up; he knew that they were going too fast and they might come back to him.

“Majborough - he was going so well at home, but then when he made that first little error, then the second one and… It’s hard. He makes life hard for himself. We will have to wait and see. Hopefully there is a big one in him one day.”

Winning rider Paul Townend said: “I got a good start and I jumped the first couple OK, but I was always just going to go my speed, and it wasn’t as fast as they were going up front! But I wasn’t going to put him on his head - the best way to get him back wasn’t going to be to force him and go too fast. But that’s thing about riding for the likes of Willie - they know why you’re doing it, and it all came good in the end.

“I thought taking the hood off would help. It’s hard to change it when he’s winning, but if you’re knocked back, you can change it up then. He’s so tough, he’s so mentally tough to come back after Ascot. A lot of work went into him after that and there are a lot of people to thank - I’m lucky enough to get to hand him back at the end of the day and arrive on him next time knowing he’s in tip-top condition. A lot of credit to everyone at home.

“I thought it was brilliant that Majborough was going off in front and favourite - there was no pressure on me. He was the silent horse coming into the race, and a lot of people had written him off after one bad run. For a change, the pressure was on someone else!

“At turn of the top of the hill, I’d seen Mark (Walsh, rider of Majborough) making me a mistake. My lad was gaining in confidence all the time and they weren’t going to get any further away from me.”

Craig Kieswetter, winning joint owner: “It’s incredible. We’ve had a few attempts, I’m a bit speechless to be perfectly honest with you. We’ve all flown over from South Africa. You can never question Willie and Jackie, we’re delighted to be part of their team.

“We’re very, very happy. There’s a whole crowd here and we will take standing in the cold compared to South African weather for a result like that. Very proud for everyone, it’s quite amazing.”

Sean Bowen, rider of the runner-up Libberty Hunter, said: “I nearly came off him at the first and that fairly woke him up. He picked his feet up after that!

“He’s a strong stayer at that trip and he loves Cheltenham for whatever reason. He’s a good horse on his day but to be honest he hated that ground. I’d love to have a go on him in a championship race on real soft ground.”

Cath Williams, trainer of Libberty Hunter, added “I'm absolutely delighted with him. Thrilled to bits. He definitely likes softer, but hey ho, he’s second. If it rains and we can get to Aintree, that’s where he’ll go.”

Dan Skelton, trainer of third-placed L’Eau Du Sud, said: “We’ve run our best race and I can’t complain. It was a dramatic race, but we were where we wanted to be most of the way.

“The pace was so strong for the first three parts of the race and then we’ve ended up there a bit early because of the way the complexion of the race changed. If we’d have been a little bit more negative with our run style we may have been second, but we were never catching the winner. Fair play to him - he’s an incredible little horse.”

Willie Mullins – 118 Festival wins
Paul Townend - 41 Festival wins