Indefatigable charges home to give Webber a first Festival success

The final day of the Cheltenham Festival produced a dramatic conclusion

The Mollington trainer had been waiting 25 years for his first winner at the Cheltenham Festival since taking over at Cropredy Lawn. It came in the last race of this year's Festival and was worth waiting for.

It was also a first Festival winner for jockey Rex Dingle who rode a superb race to get the seven-year-old through the pack after the pair jumped off at the back of the field. Coming up the hill for the final time, Indefatigable charged up to challenge the leaders and when Column Of Fire fell at the last, the pair seized their opportunity to get up on the line for a photo finish and it went their way.

Webber, whose late father John was a dual Festival winner with Elfast, said: "It is our first, I've only waited 24 years, it's a great thrill. Everything went wrong for her and she still managed to battle home.

"We've had plenty of seconds here and it all went so wrong. The drying ground was important, we had to skip Tuesday [Grade 1 Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle] as it was too soft for her."

Dingle, who only sat on Indefatigable for the first time on Tuesday at the yard, said: "The plan wasn't to ride her like that. I was lining up middle to outer and that was my plan, to be halfway, but there was so much scrummage, she was more worried about biting the ones next to me.

"She was trying to back out of it so, in the end, I decided to line up in the second line and I would probably get a better tow forward. Then there was a false start and I was a bit further back than I wanted to be and was never really travelling the whole way round.

"Gavin [Sheehan] had told me lots about her and Paul had told me lots about her. I knew that, once I passed a few, she might take off and that is what she did. When I was jumping the last, I could see Ben [Jones] in my sights but I didn't know how well he was going. I didn't know that I had got there, to be fair, when I passed the line.

"You dream of it but you never think that it is going to happen, it's amazing. I have just done what every other lad has done - everyone is trying their best - and I am just lucky that I ride for good people and had a bit of luck."