Guard Your Dreams picked up his biggest prize to date when taking the Unibet International Hurdle at Cheltenham.
The five-year-old, trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, battled on bravely up the hill to land the Grade Two contest in a driving finish.
Olly Murphy’s veteran Hunters Call appeared to have the race in safe keeping as he travelled smoothly into contention on the bridle.
He jumped the last in front but Guard Your Dreams had yet to be asked for a serious effort and engaged top gear on the run to the line.
Having shrugged off that danger, Guard Your Dreams (5-1) knuckled down stoutly for Sam Twiston-Davies to keep last year’s winner Song For Someone at bay by half-a-length.
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The winner was introduced at 33-1 for the Unibet Champion Hurdle with Paddy Power and Betfair.
Twiston-Davies said: “We won this a few times with The New One and Ballyandy was narrowly beaten once or twice, giving weight to good horses. It’s very pleasing to be back here again.
“We’ve had two seconds in novice chases today and we’d have been happy with second here. According to the handicapper we couldn’t win, but we did.
“He’s just a nice, young horse who is improving. He toughed it out and galloped to the line. We’ll definitely look at the Champion Hurdle Trial at Haydock. I think the Champion Hurdle – the Irish have got a say in that, but we’ll think about it.”