I have two second places this evening and if you'd told me beforehand what would win each time, I'd have thought you were having me on. Wrong, not for the first time, not for the last.

That said, Granit Jack and Brave Inca both ran absolute crackers and were beaten fair and square. Sublimity definitely made a mockery of me. I would have sworn that horse had about four stone to find on the likes of Brave Inca and Hardy Eustace and more again on Detroit City.

But I was wrong. There's a new kid on the block, make no mistake about that.

Don't let anyone pretend that this was a fluke or a flash in the pan. That was a true run Champion Hurdle. We went at a ferocious gallop and my horse absolutely ran his race. Coming off the bend, I definitely thought I had it when we passed Conor O'Dwyer on Hardy Eustace. What I didn't know was that Philip Carberry hadn't moved a muscle on Sublimity. I knew he was coming behind me alright as we came down the hill but I really didn't think he could have been good enough. But he quickened away from me no bother at all, passed me in two strides and zipped away on up the hill. If he can stay fit and well, he'll be some prospect next year.

I could have taken the ride on Ebaziyan and - again, not for the first time - it turned out I picked the wrong horse. A bit of a sickener but there you go. Being honest, I never saw Davy Condon's horse winning that race and I know Willie Mullins is as surprised as anyone here that he did.

Willie and Davy both had a terrible Cheltenham last year and I'm delighted for them to have got this win out of the way so early on in the week. Davy especially deserved a turn in his luck. He's come up through the apprentice ranks and works so hard in Willie's yard, it's great to see him get his turn on the big stage like this. I thought Granit Jack had it coming to the last but such is life.

Even though Granit Jack came close and Brave Inca ran his heart out, the one I think slipped away from me was actually the Arkle. Twist Magic was travelling really well coming to the second last and although My Way De Solzen won well in the end, I would have been very interested in how he'd have handled my horse in a finish. I know AP was going well on Don't Push It when he fell at the same fence but I just felt so happy on Twist Magic before he came down.

I think it might have shown on the television pictures from when I hit the deck.

On the whole, though, a decent enough day. I didn't think I'd ride a winner and I've managed two seconds. And been wrong. Hopefully I'll be right before the week's out.

WEDNESDAY Well, that didn't take long. Denman did what I'd hoped he'd do, what I pretty much said he'd do. He turned up, jumped, travelled and blew them all away. There's a sense of relief about it all. Not so much for myself as for the horse and for Paul Nicholls.

When you know how good a horse is, you just hope he can let the outside world know as well by doing it on the big day. Denman got beat here last year and even though it was the only defeat of his career, it was enough to convince 5.00 ?3,045 some people that he was quirky or a problem horse. So I'm relieved he proved them wrong and excited about what he could do from here on.

You pick up little things about horses the more you ride them. When he won at Newbury at the start of February, I could feel it in him that if he'd had to go further, he would have, no problem. So today, Paul let me belt away and do what I wanted on him and I decided that he'd have no trouble bowling along out front. And I was right.

Silverburn did okay but got caught for toe at the top of the hill and Mister Hight would have gone very close I'd say if his jumping had been better. I actually thought Mad Fish travelled well but just didn't get home.

But I've one on the board now, thank God. I always say each year that when it comes to Cheltenham, if I walk out the