Racing began so early on Cheltenham’s longest day that some corporate guests had barely started their lunches when Ruby Walsh was picking himself off the turf for the second time.

Those still lingering at their tables, when his fortunes turned dramatically, missed a performance that will be talked about as long as the trauma of high winds.

Not that Walsh needed to exert himself. The jockey, unharmed by his two falls, was merely an admiring passenger as Master Minded demolished his rivals by 19 lengths and became the first five-year-old winner in 49 runnings of the Seasons Holidays Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Superlatives were scattered freely but none did justice to the majesty of this display. Flick back through two-mile champions such as Moscow Flyer, Azertyuiop and Viking Flagship and you will struggle to recall such a spectacular victory. Had he wished to stir his mount off the bridle, Walsh might have won by 30 lengths.

The tendency to dismiss this as a substandard renewal must be resisted. Voy Por Ustedes, the defending champion, ran a sterling race in second but was beaten out of sight. The other fancied contenders, Twist Magic and Tamarinbleu, were eclipsed as Fair Along — reluctant to start — stayed on into third.

From the stands, the race looked over with almost a mile to run, as Master Minded sauntered clear with Voy Por Ustedes toiling in his wake. The impression was confirmed by Walsh. “I had it won at halfway,” he said. “My only worry was that I’d got there so easily, I thought he might cut out on the hill.”

Paul Nicholls, the winning trainer, was almost lost for words. “Awesome,” he managed, before recalling that such giddy targets were not even contemplated when Master Minded was bought last autumn in France — for Kauto Star’s owner, Clive Smith. “I thought we’d give him an easy first season. We never dreamt he’d get to this level so quickly.”

Smith added: “We thought he was good but not this good. It’s funny how things work out. We had Kauto in this race two years ago and he fell. Maybe, if he’d won then, he would still be in this race — perhaps it was fate that he didn’t.”

This was Nicholls’s third Champion Chase winner in ten years but Master Minded, barely out of nappies in chasing terms, has the youth and potential to run up a sequence. Ladbrokes reacted by making him evens favourite for the race next year. He will not run again this season, but the placed horses could reoppose over half a mile farther at Aintree.

A race in Liverpool is also the next target for Albertas Run — hardly surprising, once you know his owner is that course’s greatest fan, Trevor Hemmings. Here, he justified favouritism in the Royal & SunAlliance Chase without fuss, and finally endorsed Tony McCoy’s fanfared comeback from injury with a landmark winner.

McCoy, ever the punter’s pal, was given a thunderous reception as he returned after a prudent waiting ride. For Jonjo O’Neill, the trainer, this was solace for a difficult few months and enhanced his already remarkable record at Cheltenham — now 14 winners in the past eight Festivals. “He gets some criticism but he always comes up with winners here,” McCoy said.

For Hemmings, this was the second leg of a double initiated by Old Benny in the National Hunt Chase named, for the first time, after Peter O’Sullevan. A second winner of the week for trainer Alan King, Old Benny was ridden by Charlie Huxley, 20, whose grandfather, Roy Edwards, won the 1967 Champion Hurdle on Saucy Kit.

The Queen was within a neck of a first Cheltenham winner when the late rally of Barbers Shop just failed to deny Finger Onthe Pulse in the Jewson Handicap. The winner wears the colours of Kicking King and was the only runner this week for his trainer, Tom Taaffe.