He was soon on the heels of his two stablemates at the last and it quickly developed into a duel between the two principals, owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.

Peace And Co, a winner on the course in January, powered up the hill to land the spoils by a neck from Top Notch, with Hargam and Tony McCoy four lengths away in third.

Geraghty said: “He's a lovely horse, he travels well and jumps. The ground was hard work and it probably killed his speed, but I could afford to sit and wait and I knew the longer I waited the better his chance.

“As the rain fell I knew the gap between him and Top Notch would shorten, but I always felt this fella had that little kick to do it.

“The ground is soft, it’s not desperate and where it’s fresh it’s not too bad.”

Henderson said: “They had to come here and do that, but it’s a bit of bad luck that you have to go beating up your own troops.

“Peace And Co would jump fences if he had to, but I don’t suppose we’ll be doing that for a while.”