GREAT Field provided Willie Mullins with a valuable Grade 1 prize and in the process gave jockey Jody McGarvey this biggest success of his career in the Ryanair Novice Chase at Punchestown.

Mullins has taken gentle steps with the JP McManus-owned six-year-old as he has a tendency to get over-excited. That can spill over into his races and watching him is a thrill-a-minute but McGarvey has struck up a great relationship with him.

His last two victories had been headlined by late mistakes but there were no such scares this time and big-race glory never looked in doubt. Nothing could go with him early on but McGarvey gave him a breather before the final bend, allowing Ordinary World to get to within a length.

A quick squeeze with his legs and another perfect leap later, though, and the race was over, with the 9/10 favourite coming home 11 lengths clear of Ordinary World with Gordon Elliott's Ball D'Arc third.

Despite it looking straightforward McGarvey explained there was the odd moment of doubt. "My saddle had slipped going to the second-last. He can give one or two a rub, got in a bit tight to one and it brought the girth with him.

"I was just hoping it would stay intact until I got over the last, so it was a sigh of relief to say the least when we got away safely.

"What a horse and what an engine, nothing beats this, a couple of times I was long but he came up. He has his own way of doing it, but he was rock solid on his feet. I'm very lucky. It's the best feeling in the world, I'll go a while before something tops that.

"At the start of the year I was only hoping for a ride at the Festivals, I never dreamt I'd be coming here riding an odds-on shot for Willie Mullins in a Grade 1."