THERE was no champagne at Cheltenham for Wye Valley trainer Venetia Williams, although game stayer Royale Pagaille placed sixth for the third time in the showcase Gold Cup, securing nearly £9,000 in prize money.

Stablemate L'Homme Presse was expected to be the best British challenger in the race, but was withdrawn after “a troubling week” at the King's Caple yard.

L'Homme Presse could still run the Grand National next month, but won't have to race Gold Cup winner and the previous Aintree favourite Inothewayurthinkin, who has been ruled out of April’s epic steeplechase since racing to festival glory on Friday.

Royale Pagaille – who was also fifth in 2022 – performed gamely under jockey Charlie Deutsch in the 11-year-old’s fourth Gold Cup , but the firm conditions effectively ruled the two-time Betfair Chase champion mudlark out of the front places, as Inothewayurthinkin stunned red hot Irish favourite Galopin Des Champs to win the £440,000 race by 6L.

Out of Venetia's 10 other horses in action, In D'Or placed another sixth in the Princess Royal National Hunt Challenge Cup to take £1,490 in winnings, while Deutsch also saddled stablemate Djelo to seventh in the Ryanair Chase, securing £2,657.

Sellack trainer Tom Symonds saw Royale Margaux under Ben Poste finish sixth in the Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase for a £1,700 pay day, a place ahead of Williams' Fontaine Collonges.

But Hoarwithy-raised eight-time champion jump jockey Peter Scudamore, assistant trainer to partner Lucinda Russell, was cheering a winner, as their Myretown made all the running in the Ultima Handicap Chase before racing clear from the last under Patrick Wadge to win by 11L from Ireland's The Changing Man.

However, the Wye Valley racing legend was critical of the festival’s spate of false starts, describing it as “an embarrassment” after Russell’s runner Primoz effectively lost his chance after a messy start to Wednesday's Grand Annual.

Scudamore said: "Cheltenham is fantastic but there are problems. The starts are an embarrassment and taking the punters for granted.

"The attitude of the stewards is to sweep the dirt under the carpet and fine the jockey, but it is not solving the problem.

“There is no consistency – sometimes the horses are let go moving forward, then another time they are stopped. It is not possible to stop some of these moving horses.”