Willie Mullins duly won the won the KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle on the opening day of the Punchestown Festival but not with the runner most expected.
Brilliant Supreme winner Kopek Des Bordes (3/10 fav) was a warm order to maintain his unbeaten record but could only finish fourth - behind three stablemates - as Irancy (18/1) swept to an impressive victory.
Salvator Mundi was given a positive ride and led by three or four lengths to a far from fluent Kopek Des Bordes over the first two flights with the remainder racing at some remove.
As the field neared the end of the back straight, the front two were closer but so, too, were Irancy and Karbau.
The writing was on the wall for Kopek Des Bordes with another sluggish leap at the second last and Paul Townend was quick to accept his fate but Mark Walsh and Irancy were going better than anything.
They swept into the lead and won as they liked by nine lengths.
Salvator Mundi battled on well for second after a mistake at the last by Karbau.
Irancy didn't debut for Mullins until 2023 having raced in France in 2021 and hasn't been easy to keep right but he made a promising start to finish third to Firefox in December of that year before winning his maiden in November 2024.
Irancy was said not to have handled the track when 33 lengths behind Kopek Des Bordes at the Cheltenham Festival but bounced back to win his Grade 1 at Fairyhouse last week, confirming the value of that performance here.
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Walsh told Racing TV: "I just let him be where he was comfortable. They'd gone a right gallop and they'd come back by the second last, I was trying to hang onto him for as long as I could and he was pricking his ears when we went to the front but he winged the last and galloped right out to the line.
"He just didn't handle Cheltenham at all, the flat track at Fairyhouse suited him. Today suited him a lot better bar the hill away from the stands but he's a decent horse; he's had plenty of problems so fair play to Willie for getting him here.
On options for next year, Walsh added: "I think two miles is perfect for him and I think he'd jump a fence next year I'd say as well; he's a nice horse to go chasing with."
Mullins added: "JP [McManus, owner] has been asking me all season if he's a Grade 1 horse and I kept saying he is on the work he's doing at home. He just had a little setback after his first win, I put him by and that's paid off.
"I think a big help was the pace. Patrick elected to go forward on Salvator Mundi and I think they just ran too free, especially when they got to the top of the hill here and down the hill they were going some lick. And Paul, knowing how good Salvator Mundi is, couldn't let him out of his sight.
"It was extraordinary watching the two of them in front and then our two - we think they're good horses too - looked to be running for third or fourth and then when they came to the fourth last hurdle after that it looked like the whole race might switch.
"I was as fascinated as anyone watching it.
"Mark rode a fantastic race, kept his powder dry. Karbau just ran out of steam. Salvator Mundi, the way he jumped and stayed on to be second, I thought that was a tremendous run from him."
Mullins was not blaming the pace of the race alone for the defeat of Kopek Des Bordes, saying: "More to it with Kopek.
"Looking at my four in the parade ring, I thought Kopek looked the burliest of them. I'd obviously given him a nice break after Cheltenham and it looks now like I might have given him too much of a break. I probably should have brought him to Sandown or Ayr or Perth or somewhere to get a run into him!
"It looked to me like he was big and burly but if Salvator Mundi wasn't in the race and it wasn't that pace early on, I think he could probably have used his class to win. The time was over four minutes so that track must have been fairly well watered but given the pace they went, there's plenty of water on the track I think."
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