There's a crisp £50 note sitting in my wallet which I'm loathe to pend as its very presence evokes wonderful memories of a recent visit to the Cheltenham Festival and, yes, it was my return for a bet on the winner of The Betfred Champion Gold Cup.

How good was that?

Having watched this famous race countless times on television, I suppose it was a dream-come-true when the invitation dropped through the letterbox to join a party for lunch at Cheltenham on Gold Cup day, the last of four top class days of racing at the Mecca of jump racing.

An armchair fan of National Hunt racing, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass by and how glad was I that this opportunity had arisen.

Not only were my eyes opened to a totally different side of equestrianism to which I am accustomed, but also I felt part of a major sporting occasion which has few equals. It was truly an adventure which I found myself relishing from start to finish.

The day began and ended at Edinburgh Airport, where it was obvious from passengers carrying the Racing Post and some sporting country wear, that I wasn't alone in my early start for the races.

The journey lasted some four hours before I set foot on the race course. An hour-long wait for a delayed train at Birmingham was more than tedious, however it did have its highlights as it was here that I first came across a group of extremely well dressed and well mannered young lads, who, like me, were making their first trip to Cheltenham.

Little did I realise that there would be thousands of young people just like them at the races. It speaks volumes for the sport and equestrianism that it is able to attract such a young vibrant group of enthusiasts.

The second highlight of the train queue was meeting my new 'neighbour', Gerard Hayes, a quiet spoken man from Co Limerick, whose typically lilting Irish accent would become a familiar feature of the crowd at the races. It soon became obvious that he was thoroughly immersed in the racing industry by buying and rearing young Thoroughbreds with a modest boast that he had been responsible for finding Imperial Commander, the 2010 Gold Cup winner.

His diverse equestrian interests included the breeding of his Lismakeera Sports horses, so an interesting debate arose on the current trend of using Continental sires to breed Irish sports horses.

You can imagine that my ears pricked up when he volunteered a potential winner to one of the young lads looking for a tip. Perhaps the inside information he seemed to have on one of the horses trained by The Festival's leading trainer, Willie Mullens, was more than wishful thinking, as it never featured during any part of its race.

Needless to say, I followed my heart and not my head and consequently lost a 'tenner' in the process. But let's face it, I couldn't go to Cheltenham without placing a bet and perhaps my own tip would make amends, which it handsomely did.

Given that a queue at the supermarket is the only one which I normally encounter, you can imagine my amazement when I joined the 60,000-plus race goers for Gold Cup day.

As I moved slowly with the seemingly unstoppable flow of bodies moving through the gates, memories flooded back of going to the football with my dad as a young boy when thousands of Celtic or Rangers fans descended upon my local East End Park, Dunfermline, for a cup tie.

This time there was no hand to cling on to, but no need as the friendly atmosphere was one which impressed throughout the day. Besides, just when I was least expecting it, who did I literally bump into but well-known Scottish race-goers, Robert and Helen Goldie, with their son, Michael.

Returning to my £50 note, before anyone says otherwise, this was not a case of beginner's luck, as I had some reliable inside information that the trainers held great store in the eventual winner, Coneygree - demonstrated by the fact that they had moved him from the RSA Novices Chase to The Gold Cup, despite the fact that this was only his fourth race over jumps.

Needless to say, his victory and that which went before it have been well documented in the press and my fiver each way at 7:1 vindicated the faith in my 'source'.

Coneygree's victory added to the fairytale story which surrounds the late Lord Oaksey, who died in 2012. An ever-popular former jump jockey, journalist and broadcaster, his work for the Injured Jockey's Fund is legendary.

The fact that it is the first time since 1974 (when Captain Christy won the Gold Cup) that a novice has taken the championship can only be surpassed by the fact that the eight-year-old gelding was bred by Lord Oaksey himself, trained by his daughter and son-in-law, Sara and Mark Bradstock, and raced in the colours of the Max Partnership, consisting of six family members and close friends. The £313,225 first prize should go far towards future racing costs.

The breeder/trainer/owner combination is no stranger to the spotlight, as half- brother to Coneygree, the enigmatic Carruthers, won the prestigious Hennessey Gold Cup at Newbury, in 2011.

All in all, it is a story of which only dreams are made and a script too unlikely to write.

However, it doesn't end there as there is a little publicised story yet to be told about the breeding which lies behind this remarkable success. It is often said that 'breeding will out' and in this case the common factor is a remarkable mare, Plaid Maid, dam of these great winners by different sires.

Foaled in 1992, this small Irish-bred Thoroughbred, by Executive Peck (whom Mark Bradstock rates as 'highly under-rated'), was purchased cheaply for around £3000 out of a field as a retirement interest for Lord Oaksey in whose colours she ran and trained by the Bradstocks.

It is a little-known fact that her half-sister was a winner round Cheltenham. Despite her size (she was only 15.2 hands) she was a useful winner of seven races over fences before being retired to stud as an extension of the Oaksey interest.

Her first foal was Carruthers, by Kayf Tara, successful himself on the flat but five times champion sire of chasers.

Successful jump race sires often gain recognition later in life due to the maturity of race horses over jumps which, generally speaking, come later in life than those raced on the flat. This was the case of Coneygree's sire, Karinga Bay, a winner of five Group 3 races and £250K on the flat but unfashionable with 'flat' breeders.

Recognised as a successful jump sire, he died aged 20 in 2007 but in Coneygree he produced one of his best.

The Bradstocks have great faith in yet another son of Plaid Maid, the gelding Flintham, a full brother to Carruthers, of which they have great hopes and with good reason given their track record with the family.

Having lost Plaid Maid at foaling, the breeding aspirations of the family continue through a full sister to Carruthers, appropriately called Maid of Oaksey.

So the story continues giving inspiration to the thousands of small breeders whose aspirations run high.