Cheltenham may look like a broad expanse but in reality space is always at a premium. That's what makes the festival a unique challenge for jockeys.

Conor O'Dwyer won the 1996 Gold Cup on Imperial Call and emphasises the turning nature of the steeplechase course, while Istabraq's rider, Charlie Swan, confirms the hurdles track can be even worse.

"On TV, Cheltenham looks big and spacious but it's actually quite tight. You are on the turn pretty much throughout and in a big field it can be tricky," says O'Dwyer.

"The fences at, say, Ascot or Newbury are actually bigger. But the pace the races are run at in the festival means they take some jumping. Both ditches are in tricky positions, because races are starting to get going when you reach them and novices especially can get caught out.

"The one thing that Mouse Morris insists upon when I ride for him at Cheltenham is that I must not try and make any sort of ground up on the uphill section before reaching the top of the hill. From his own riding days, he believes that that is the only place where you can take a breather. Other than there you are flat out the whole way. So it's important to be in a good position before then.

"On a normal winter meeting, the Cheltenham hill can seem like nothing and I've sprinted up there on horses. But the constant pace of the festival races mean that it can seem an awful long way home," O'Dwyer adds.

With big fields, crowding is a real headache for riders on the hurdles track, and Charlie Swan knows that more than most.

"When I won on Fissure Seal in 1993, I was racing on the inside and at one stage down the back I was facing up to the open ditch! That can be the trickiest part of the course because horses are starting to drop back," the current champion jockey says.

Swan adds: "The course is so tight that it's very easy to get a bad run or get knocked down. If a horse can be handy and you can get a position in the first five or six, then you can travel down the inner, but if you drop one out, it's better to go wide.

"Ideally, you need to be in a good position on the run down to the third last because they quicken there and they can be gone on you if you're not awake."