The win took place in the absence of Beef Or Salmon's trainer Michael Hourigan who was attending the wedding of his niece, Rosemary Nash, in Limerick. His daughter Kay was understandably overjoyed afterwards and ran from the parade ring screaming down the phone to her father in excitement.

"He ran a brilliant race, didn't he? What a horse.

We'll more than likely go for the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown next. My dad will decide, I'm sure." Northern Irish bookmakers Sean Graham cut Beef Or Salmon from 33-1 into 14-1 for the Gold Cup in the wake of the performance.

Jockey Andrew McNamara, who only picked up the ride when Paul Carberry moved to ride Justified in the absence of Tony McCoy who was on duty at Wincanton, can take a lot of credit for the outcome. He drove his mount on from what looked like an unlikely position three from home, catching Conor O'Dwyer aboard Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition and taking the race by a neck. McNamara was beaming afterwards, although he admitted that he wasn't always sure of the win.

"This must rate as one of my best days ever. I thought we were beaten coming around the third . . . that was three out . . . but once we got into the straight, I felt Conor's horse was starting to come back to me a bit and I asked my lad for one last effort. I got a better jump at the second last and it was only after that that I thought we had a chance.

"The last fence was a bit strange because I managed to meet it with a nice stride in the end up even though I thought it might be a bit short going into it. But his horse missed it a bit and from there I was fairly confident of getting home."

In the day's other graded race, the 50,000 Killultagh Properties Chase saw an easy enough win for Barry Geraghty aboard In Compliance in his only race of the day. It was a victory that was in no doubt from the last fence as In Compliance streaked clear of Noel Meade's Wild Passion.

Earlier in the day, there was another win in what has been a fine season for trainer Adrian McGuinness as Victram just got up on the line to beat Moore's Law in the Open Northern Ireland Betting Shops On Sunday Hurdle.