A GREY and wintry Gold Cup day at Prestbury Park drew the curtain on this year’s Cheltenham Festival, in what was a relatively successful week for Seaborough handler Harry Fry.

Champion jockey AP McCoy’s final hurrah took place under leaden skies rather than a golden sunset, and it was a week which also started under a cloud for Dorset trainers.

With the withdrawal of key players Rock on Ruby for Fry and Cue Card representing the Colin Tizzard stable, many suggested that Fry’s yard may have been weakened by the bacterial infection that put paid to his star’s chances.

But this was emphatically not the case, the Seaborough man produced arguably his finest festival to date with a string of placed finishers in Bitofapuzzle, Activial and Henryville, all of whom threatened victory at the death.

None of the Dorset-based runners sparkled on the final day, due in part to the worsening ground which was described by jockeys as being of the soft and dead variety.

But a positive message to come out of the Festival is the fact that, despite missing their star turns, Fry and Tizzard brought healthily large strings including some promising and unexposed hurdlers, who will train up into strong novice chasers for next year.

Both Tizzard and Fry retain hopes for the upcoming festivals at Aintree and Punchestown.