I have an interest in quite a few four-legged friends. Unfortunately, the ones I’ve been backing of late have all had three. And so it continued at Cheltenham this week.

Now Cheltenham, for all those who may not be familiar with national hunt racing’s biggest festival, is where seven million Irishmen descend annually to imbibe a black sea of Guinness and eat a hundred herd of hogs while thousands of others guzzle down France’s champagne stocks and deplete the North Sea’s cod and shrimp quota.

But I’m always pleased when my schedule allows me to visit because it is one of the most memorable sporting occasions on the planet. At least what you can remember of it. Trouble is you just can’t avoid joining the Irish as they treble the price of Guinness shares... and that tends to make the memory bank a little fuzzy.

I joined the pilgrimage to the Cotswolds as guest of the Racing Post along with former England cricket captain turned broadcaster Michael Vaughan and my manager Chubby Chandler, who knows a thing or three about horses who should win, but invariably don’t.

I eventually found monetary sanctuary in a horse called Sanctuaire which won the second to last race on Wednesday, the Fred Winter Juvenile Novices’ Hurdle. I’d like to think its success had something to do with me shouting it up the famous hill finish, but I think it had a bit more to do with the fact that it was ridden by Irish wizard Ruby Walsh.

As usual there were celebrities by the dozen there and I had a good chat with Spurs manager Harry Redknapp and former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson, who is still kicking lumps out of opponents, but these days from the safety of the broadcasters’ booth. A trip up to the legendary JP McManus’s box was another highlight of another wonderful day.