Robert Thornton is not yet the best-known rider in jump racing but he is fast becoming the modern master of its greatest meeting. After four winners at the Cheltenham Festival last year, he won two of the first three races yesterday and has his brightest chances still to come - starting with Group Captain and Voy Por Ustedes on the second afternoon.

Thornton is a local here, a Sunday night regular in one of the area’s racing pubs and famous for the long fair hair he refuses to cut before a big meeting.

His partnership with Alan King, the Scottish-born trainer, is one of the great pairings in the sport, especially now they have added the Champion Hurdle to an impressive collection of major prizes.

Katchit’s battling victory over Osana left King yesterday “shellshocked”, as he had spent the preceding hours convincing himself he had no chance. This tigerish horse relished a rough race, though, and became the first since the great See You Then, in 1985, to win the Champion as a five-year-old.

Afterwards, King and Thornton reminisced about past days working for the late David Nicholson, a man with a kind heart but an angry bark. King, who was assistant trainer, thought little of the rebellious young man that Thornton was in those days. “We didn’t speak,” he said. “But we have both grown up for the better now.”

So much so that King is unstinting in his regard for his stable jockey. “I wouldn’t swap him for anyone,” he says, an opinion that can only have been reinforced here, as Thornton followed up a first-race win on the Irish-trained Captain Cee Bee with an accomplished ride on Katchit.

The first day - which brought winners for two of racing’s female stars, jockey Nina Carberry and trainer Emma Lavelle - was run on soft ground and the weather forecast suggests it will not improve. That could lead to Denman going off favourite, ahead of Kauto Star, in the Gold Cup on Friday, and to some ardent backing for My Way De Solzen, Thornton’s choice from two King-trained runners in the World Hurdle on Thursday.

First comes the day two feature, won last year by Voy Por Ustedes. He has a pair of Paul Nicholls horses, Twist Magic and Master Minded, as key opponents, along with Tamarinbleu. But Thornton believes Voy Por is his best ride of the week. And, right now, nothing he says should be ignored.