The smallest Cheltenham Festival crowd since 1993 was recorded on Wednesday, with 41,949 spectators at the track. It was a drop of nearly 5,000 from last year and mirrored a fall in Tuesday's crowd which was down to 55,498 from 60,181.

Kopeck De Mee is one of the talking horses of the Festival and runs in the very last race on Friday. This French recruit had multiple entries but has opted to come here over two and a half miles. He was an impressive winner at Auteuil when last seen and has subsequently been purchased by JP McManus.

The Cheltenham Festival rolls on into its third day on Thursday after two spellbinding days of action on Tuesday and Wednesday.