By James Toney at Cheltenham

If a certain Danish lager brand did days at Cheltenham then this would be it. First, we see the best jump horse in training leave rivals in his super-charged wake, then it was an emotional send-off for an old Festival favourite. Here's five things we learned from the opening day of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival.

The real deal? You bet.

Constitution Hill had only had six runs before romping to a ninth length victory in the showpiece Unibet Champion Hurdle.

Nicky Henderson, 72 but with 73 Cheltenham winners, has trained some superstars over the years and this one could be right up there. And he is still only six.

The race was always at his mercy and he justified his odds-on status in eye-catching style. Forget defending his Champion Hurdle crown next year, connections think this could even be a Gold Cup horse, a double only completed by the legendary Dawn Run.

"He's extraordinary, you can't believe at this stage of his life he is doing things like that, it's just remarkable," said Henderson.

"You always worry and there was lots of pressure, it's fun when it's over and you've got the win."

Nowhere does undiluted emotion quite like Cheltenham

You didn't need to have a penny on Honeysuckle to be swept up in the emotion of a story that will be hard to match in the three remaining days of the Festival.

In her final race, she delivered Rachael Blackmore the 17th win of their incredible partnership with a win in the Mares' Hurdle – a fourth career Cheltenham success.

As she hugged stable staff, connections and trainer Henry de Bromhead, Blackmore - as always - found the right words.

De Bromhead's 13-year-old son Jack was killed in a pony racing accident last year, a tragedy which shock the tightly knit sport of racing.

“We all wish a very special kid could be here today but he’s watching down on us," she said.

Deserved success for one of racing's nice guys

Nico de Boinville is one of the nice guys of the weighing room but he admits he can't believe the company he is now keeping.

Constitution Hill's Champion Hurdle success means he has now won all three major championship races at the Festival, after previous success in the Champion Chase and Gold Cup.

He joins Sir AP McCoy, Ruby Walsh, Richard Johnson and Barry Geraghty in the pantheon of legend, just the fifth jockey to complete the 'holy trinity'.

He said: "It's been a dream of mine to win the big three and I don't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as those legends but I'll take it."

Green Team are smiling - and more is to come

If British trainers were to have any chance of winning the Prestbury Cup against their Irish rivals, they needed a big first day.

But with only Lucinda Russell and Nicky Henderson making the winners' enclosure, the raiders from across the Irish Sea have a 5-2 first day advantage.

Last year the hosts edged the opening day but still lost 18-10, the year before they were on the end of 23-5 domination.

The first race, the Supreme Novices', sort of summed it up. The first eight home in a race for future stars were all trained in Ireland. Ominous.

Who needs Cheltenham experience?

Michael O’Sullivan won his first Cheltenham race in only his second ride - and later doubled that tally with another win.

It puts the 23-year-old apprentice in rarefied air as the leading jockey at the meeting after day one - with a live chance to come when Good Land runs in the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle on Tuesday, the opening race.

His dad won once at the Festival, it took just over three hours for his son to go one better.

"I could retire now," joked O’Sullivan. "It's been an unbelievable day. Dad rode a Festival winner and he was a very accomplished amateur. He never pushed me too much but when he saw I had interest, he gave me every opportunity, drove me all over the country and spent a lot of money."