Keith Donoghue says winning the 135th running of the Velka Pardubicka on Stumptown on Sunday gave him huge satisfaction.
The Czech Republic's most fearsome cross-country chase is renowned for its huge fences and severe drops but jockey Donoghue was able to pull off a minor miracle on the eight-year-old despite some hair-raising moments along the way.
The world-famous Taxis Ditch gave Stumptown a real problem and, having initially been quite prominent, he found himself near the back of the pack after an awkward landing at the biggest obstacle, while further errors at fences eight and nine added to the task.
However, the Gavin Cromwell-trained Stumptown, winner of the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March, gradually warmed to the job and started to pick off rivals as the race went on, eventually reeling in High In The Sky, ridden by race legend Jan Faltejsek, on the long run-in and staying on to score.
It was a breakthrough for Ireland and first British or Irish-trained winner of the prestigious race since Charlie Mann's It's A Snip in 1995.
The winning rider said on Monday's Nick Luck Daily Podcast: "It was great to do it, I've been thinking about it for the last year and it was eating away at me so when I knew Stumptown was going for the race, I thought he was obviously a better horse than Coko Beach (unseated Donoghue after going off 9/2 last year) so I was pretty confident that with a bit of luck he'd do the job.
"It's completely different to the day-to-day stuff but even for the cross country it's a bit madder than the likes of Punchestown or Cheltenham. You just have so much going on, so many different styles of jumps.
"The Taxis - that number four - is one of the biggest jumps you'll ever jump, it's very wide. The closer you get it just gets bigger, the pictures of it don't actually do it justice. If you get over that I'd say you're chances of winning go up.
"I saw it on a perfect stride, gave him a squeeze and he just paused in the air and I was very surprise I was still on him at the back of it!
"But it gave me a serious buzz, I love them cross country races and this is a very prestigious race so it's as big a buzz as I've got. The crowd and the atmosphere was great, they do it very well. There was a lot of Irish and English there and we got a great reception."
Stumptown was cut to 40/1 by Sky Bet and Paddy Power for the Randox Grand National, a race in which he was pulled-up behind Nick Rockett in April earlier this year.
More from Sporting Life
- Free bets
- Racecards
- Fast results
- Full results and free video replays
- Horse racing news
- Horse racing tips
- Horse racing features
- Download our free iOS and Android app
- Football and other sports tips
- Podcasts and video content
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.