TWO years ago trainer Colin McBratney and rider Noel McParlan looked set to record their first successes at the Cheltenham Festival as Carsonstown Boy, having made most of the running, was still in the lead jumping the final fence in the Foxhunters’ Chase.

Cruelly for connections however, the brave front-running performance was undone in the final 150 yards as fellow Northern challengers, James Smyth and Tammys Hill, stayed on much the stronger to score by three and a quarter lengths, setting off wild celebrations.