Jango Baie (5/1) came with a tremendous run after the last to come out on top by three-quarters of a length from Only By Night in the Grade 1 My Pension Expert Arkle Novices’ Chase. The 1/2 Favourite Majborough was another short-head back in third.

Unable to stay with the pace that was pushed by Majborough (Mark Walsh and Willie Mullins) and Touch Me Not (Jack Kennedy and Gordon Elliott), Nicky Henderson's charge dropped to the rear of the field leaving Majborough in the lead.

L'Eau Du Sud (Harry and Dan Skelton) was in pursuit of the leader two from home and it looked to be in between the two until Majborough made one blunder too many at the last.

Only By Night (Keith Donoghue and Gavin Cromwell) was looming on the outside of L'Eau Du Sud and Majborough, but it was Jango Baie who made a late run.

Winning trainer Nicky Henderson said: “We have said the whole way through that this is not a two mile horse. If the Turners would have been here like last year then I suspect I know what we would have been in and I suspect Ballyburn might have come into that as well.

“He wants two and a half miles. We thought we were going to make the running, but he had no chance because he couldn’t go fast enough it was as simple as that. He was flat to the boards the whole way.

“We didn’t think there was anything wrong with him he just couldn’t go any faster. You do know the fact here that if they are going hard that hill will always come into play.

“Luckily it looked as if he flew the last and landed absolutely full of running and all of sudden the gap was going down rapidly. I didn’t know he could go that fast I must admit.

“From where I was it looked like it was going to be too late, but it was an incredible pace he was nailing them with.

“It was Nico’s 50th Grade 1 and what a way to do it. It was a brilliant ride as he had to sit and suffer. He couldn’t chase him because he couldn’t go any faster and I think he knew that.

“You can’t make a horse go any faster at home. We were playing a little bit with speeding the game up a bit. He winged five fences the other day. We meant him to blitz five fences, and he did, but that wasn’t fast enough either.

“You always say on the first day if you get one on the board it is a relief. It was great with those Supreme horses like Altior, Shishkin and those guys and if you win the first race it makes a big difference to the week.

“It is nice to be back after last year when we had to sweat it out. It is nice to be back again and we have a lot to look forward to.

“I don’t know if we will see him out again this season, but if we do it won’t be over two miles.”

Nico de Boinville said: “I did think I could get there as when I was coming down the hill I was thinking about Barry (Geraghty) when he rode Champ. He did a similar kind of thing. He dropped himself out as I couldn’t go the gallop.

“I knew he was going to stay and it was just a case of filling him up where I could and see if I could get one crack up the hill. He has winged the last and he has flown up the hill.

“I suppose you could say I did a Gavin Sheehan and he would love that I’d say.

“It is great when you know you are going to get there. It is gut wrenching if you come second or are beaten by a head, which happens a lot, but today the stars were aligned and he found his head in front.

“He has now got his Grade 1 over fences which is great.”

Nicky Henderson – 74 Festival wins

Nico de Boinville – 17 Festival wins

Tony Barney, owner of Jango Baie, said: “He’s an amazing horse. The distance wasn’t really our distance, he needed the two-and-a-half mile, but credit to Nico and credit to the team, everybody, it’s phenomenal.

“It means a lot to me, as I bought the horse on the day my son got killed. His name was James Barney, the horse is Jango Baie, so the same initials. James Bowen won on him at Aintree.

“Phenomenal. Blessed. My son is looking down on me, that’s for sure.

“Where he came from, from the back – from losing, to winning. Amazing.”

Trainer Gavin Cromwell said of the runner-up: “She ran a great race and I’m really happy with her. I don’t have an idea what we’ll do with her next - this was the plan.”