Michael O’Leary: “I think it’s an incredible feat by Gordon to buy a horse that can win a Triumph Hurdle, who is only 15.2 or 15.3 hands high – he’s a little rat of a thing – and while he won the Cross Country Chase at Cheltenham. It’s beyond my wildest dreams. I am very fond of this horse now – I’m thinking of adopting him as my fifth child!

“It is also a wonderful day for Davy Russell, one of the best jockeys in Ireland for the last 10 to 15 years. It’s known we’ve had our ups and our downs, but he has always come back better than ever. It is not the end of his career, but I think it is marvellous that he can now add the greatest steeplechase to his CV.”