No other British racecourse does raw emotion quite like Cheltenham - and it is not always restricted to March. Even a capacity Festival crowd would have needed powerful lungs and motivation to match the deafening reception accorded to Well Chief yesterday, after he had defied advancing years and “legs of glass” to lower the colours of Master Minded.

The dual two-mile champion was some way short of peak fitness and form, concerning Paul Nicholls, his trainer, by lugging right-handed throughout the inaugural Connaught Chase. But this was still a stirring performance from Well Chief, a horse restricted by recurring injuries to only one run in the previous 30 months.

Jumping crowds instinctively respond to such heroic comebacks but there were piquant human elements involved, too. David Johnson was champion owner, with a string of more than 100, before the recession decimated his finance business. He has downsized so dramatically he reckons to have “only eight good horses left”.

Well Chief was bought for Johnson by Graham Bradley, now back from the wilderness of a five-year warning off. And he has been the mount that embodies the return to the riding premiership of Timmy Murphy, after travails that put even Bradley's in the shade.

“We've all been through a lot, had some tough times,” Johnson said feelingly, “so you have to enjoy days like this. I can't believe it, to be honest - they're not supposed to come back, are they? Not after the problems this horse has had on all four legs.”

This race proved that people will come out in force on a Sunday if the quality is persuasive. Every vantage point on terraces and balconies was taken as these two class acts circled the parade ring and the race itself was far from an anti-climax.

Master Minded jumped imperiously for much of the race but consistently carried Ruby Walsh wide. Murphy stalked so closely that Well Chief looked glued to the champion's tail. Descending the hill, Newmill, another former champion, briefly led but Well Chief, sticking to the inner, reasserted authoritatively and drew clear after the last.

David Pipe, the winning trainer, was visibly moved by the race and the crowd reaction. “I'm just a lucky person to have taken him over from my father,” he said. This, he conceded, was a horse that had tested patience like no other, though no one could say the waiting was futile. “The best I've trained by a very long way,” he said.

Nicholls has said similar things about Master Minded but he has issues to address before the Tingle Creek Chase in three weeks, after only his second defeat in nine chases since unseating on his debut for the stable two years ago. Nicholls said: “We thought he'd need the run and he will improve enormously but we need to find out why he was hanging so badly.”

Master Minded, pushed out to 6-4 from 4-6 for a third Champion Chase, even lost second place to Mahogany Blaze, unflatteringly nicknamed “Mog the dog” by his yard but plainly sharpened by blinkers. For Nigel Twiston-Davies, this was bonus money on another landmark day when the victory of Khyber Kim, in the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle, elevated him to the top of the trainers' championship.

Twiston-Davies led Nicholls for a few days around this time last season and few will expect his advantage to last much longer this time. He is there because of an inspired waiting ride from Paddy Brennan, who took it on himself to anchor Khyber Kim off a slow pace and produced him on the run-in to deny Harry Tricker.

“I said to the head lad on the way out that I'd either get the sack or be called a genius,” Brennan said. “I don't often get the chance to ride one of Nigel's that way, as he likes them to be positive. Cutting through a big field is a sweet feeling.”

Nicholls and Walsh did not leave empty-handed. Five minutes after Sizing Europe had demonstrated the Irish novice chase form at Punchestown, Tataniano responded equally impressively here - they now contest favouritism for the Arkle Chase in March. And the meeting ended with a striking bumper win for Ghizao, joint-owned by Johnson and Andy Stewart.