Lizzie Kelly celebrates after winning the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham on Coo Star Sivola. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian

 • Lizzie Kelly’s nerveless ride lands Ultima Handicap Chase at 5-1 

• Jockey lasted only two fences in last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup

There can be few public embarrassments to match being dumped on the turf in front of the Cheltenham grandstands after jumping only two fences in a Gold Cup and few better ripostes than a winner on your next afternoon at the Festival.

“After last year, I made my peace with never being a Cheltenham Festival winner,” Lizzie Kelly said after winning the Ultima Handicap Chase on Coo Star Sivola. “And now I am.”

Kelly was the first female jockey to ride in the Gold Cup for 33 years last season and her desolation after falling from Tea For Two was one of the abiding images of the meeting.

She also had the pick of two runners from the Nick Williams stable in the Fred Winter – and got off the 33-1 winner. Yet she rode a nerveless race on Coo Star Sivola, rewarding the faith of the backers who sent them off favourite at 5-1.

Kelly was settled behind the leaders from the off and while there was a moment when it seemed she might have hit the front a second too soon, she got an exceptional jump from Coo Star Sivola at the last. That earned them a lead which was shrinking all the way to the line but enough to resist the challenge of Shantou Flyer by a head.

“I came here today and it was like I had grown up five years,” Kelly said. “This time around, I was much more relaxed and I had a dream ride. Coo Star Sivola travelled really well and jumped from fence to fence. I knew he would gallop all the way up the hill but that was like the longest hill in the world. I was half-watching the camera so I could see what was coming but he felt it too and it just feels so surreal.”

Willie Mullins took the Arkle Trophy Novices’ Chase for the third time in four years as Footpad beat four rivals under a masterful ride by Ruby Walsh. A less experienced jockey might have panicked as Petit Mouchoir and Saint Calvados raced clear of the field but Walsh cruised closer on the run to the home turn and passed the post 14 lengths clear of the runner-up, Brain Power.

“His jumping has just gone up another gear [after switching from hurdles to fences],” Mullins said, “and he can stay, so we might just have a Gold Cup horse on our hands.”

Mullins completed a treble thanks to Benie Des Dieux in the Mares’ Hurdle and Rathvinden, with his son Patrick in the saddle, in the National Hunt Chase.