That mishap left him some 18 lengths or more adrift of the front-running leader Sweet Kiln but Walsh conjured a magnificent rally from Homer Wells and he was back in contention at the second-last.

A slow jump at the final flight put paid to the chance of 9-4 favourite Petertheknot, leaving Homer Wells and Sweet Kiln to battle it out.

Sweet Kiln looked like just holding on but Homer Wells cut up the inside on the rail to deny the brave mare by a head, with Petertheknot back in third.

Expected market leader Wild Passion was pulled out by trainer Noel Meade due to the testing ground.

Homer Wells was landing a hat-trick in the two-and-a-half-mile feature after successes here and, most recently, over three miles at Cork.

“He couldn’t jump at the speed they were going but once Ruby settled him and let him jump at his own speed, he was fine,” said winning trainer Willie Mullins.

“He shows very little at home. He revels in that ground and stays all day. I’ll probably step him up to two and three-quarter miles or three miles.”

Asked whether he could be a Cheltenham horse, the County Carlow handler said that he really needed this sort of ground and with that in mind he would “try to win what I can before with him before March.”