Willie Mullins, The Festival’s most successful trainer, saddled four of the seven starters in the Grade One Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase but it was the last fancied of the quartet that took the spoils – 20-1 chance Lecky Watson.

Partnered by Sean O’Keeffe, the seven-year-old made it three wins from three starts over fences with a four-length defeat of Stellar Story.

Willie Mullins said: “All season he has improved. We just said to Sean (O’Keeffe) maybe go a little bit wider and keep out of trouble. Sean kept it very simple and it was an excellent ride.

“Was it the plan to have not gone over three miles this season, no, it was a case of getting them ready and running in them in whatever race possible.

“We thought he was going to be a stamina horse, but the way the races came up we just took them.

“Ballyburn was gone early and he wasn’t travelling in my mind and then he made that bad mistake.

“The game was over early for him, but we might now go back in trip with him and maybe make more use of him. I don’t think he enjoyed being put in the box seat there and they weren’t going fast enough for him.

“I hadn’t been planning to go the Gold Cup route with this one, but we have to go that way now. You have got to turn up to the races and find out what you have.

"You can have all the dreams you want at home, but it is out there they will tell you what they are really worth.

“This fella is improving all the time. I do seem a bit surprised, but we had a good team of horses out there and I might have put him in fourth out of our team.

“Dancing City was travelling well until he made a mistake at the last and I thought Quai De Bourbon was travelling really well until he unshipped his rider over at the final ditch.

“I think they are all nice horses to look forward to next season. This lad's performances at home suggest we should have entered him in this. We entered him and took our chance.

“It is fantastic for his connections as they are well used to having winners here with Hardy Eustace and it is nice to be back in the winner’s enclosure for them. They know how to celebrate.

“Sean is a good part of our team. He rides out for us most days. He would be the third or fourth jockey there, but he rides his fair share of winners all year. He is a very quiet and understated type of rider, but he gets the job done and he is very good over a fence.

“It is great to be able to leg him up with another winner here as they are very hard to get.”

Sean O’Keeffe, who rode Galopin Des Champs to victory in the 2021 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, said: “I was delighted - I winged the third-last and I thought there that it would take a good one to come by me. In fairness they were sort of waiting in front and I didn’t know whether there was something that was going to come or not. He had a good look at the ditches and was looking around a bit - he could focus a bit more, but he did jump better.

“Just to get the chances on Willie Mullins’ horses, that’s a big help. It’s a lucky place for me, it seems [having ridden three winners from 21 rides here].”

Paying tribute to the late Michael O’Sullivan, O’Keeffe added: He “Michael O’Sullivan was a big fan of this horse, he always said he’d win a big race. He stayed in a house with us at Cheltenham the last few years, he’s missing from there this year. He was a very good friend and we’ll always miss him.”

Winning syndicate member, Pat Byrne, said: “Not unexpected at all. This is Lecky’s third time here – he was placed in the bumper, ran home fifth in the Albert Bartlett. We believed in him and the dream has come true.”

Willie Mullins – 106 Festival wins
Sean O’Keeffe – 3 Festival wins

What the beaten jockeys said:

Paul Townend (Ballyburn, 5th, 4-7F): “It’s obviously not his run, he did nothing right, we will have to have a look and maybe change tactics or something.”

Darragh O’Keeffe (Gorgeous Tom, 4th): “He ran a blinder. First run over the trip and he stayed at it really well. Really happy with him.”

Danny Gilligan (Stellar Story, 2nd): “His jumping is really starting to come together. That was a great performance by him. His jumping has come together, so hopefully there are better days ahead with him.