THE Brown Advisory Novices' Chase delivered the latest surprise in a Cheltenham Festival that has, so far, been filled with plot twists. Irish trainers accounted for all seven of the runners, with Ballyburn sent off the short-priced favourite, but it was Closutton’s biggest-priced contender, Lecky Watson (20/1), who came out on top, ahead of the outsider of the field, the Gordon Elliott-trained Stellar Story (22/1).

Ridden prominently by Sean O’Keeffe, the Slaneyville Syndicate-owned chesnut was pushed to lead before the second last and continued to find more reserves when asked. He stayed on well on the run-in to score by four lengths, as Stellar Story denied stablemate Better Days Ahead second, by a head.

Willie Mullins, who was winning the race for a record-extending seventh time, said: “All season he has improved. Sean kept it very simple and it was an excellent ride.

“I hadn’t been planning to go the Gold Cup route with this one, but we have to go that way now. You have got to turn up to the races and find out what you have. You can have all the dreams you want at home, but it is out there they will tell you what they are really worth.”

On the beaten favourite, the trainer added: “Ballyburn was gone early and he wasn’t travelling in my mind and then he made that bad mistake. The game was over early for him, but we might now go back in trip with him and maybe make more use of him. I don’t think he enjoyed being put in the box seat there and they weren’t going fast enough for him.”

After riding the third Cheltenham Festival winner of his career Sean O’Keeffe commented: “I was delighted - I winged the third-last and I thought there that it would take a good one to come by me. Just to get the chances on Willie Mullins’ horses, that’s a big help. It’s a lucky place for me, it seems.”

Paying tribute to the late Michael O’Sullivan, O’Keeffe added: He “Michael O’Sullivan was a big fan of this horse, he always said he’d win a big race. He stayed in a house with us at Cheltenham the last few years, he’s missing from there this year. He was a very good friend and we’ll always miss him.”