ANOTHER LECKY DAY FOR BYRNES

A VERY familiar face was back in the Cheltenham winners' enclosure yesterday, 20 years on from his last visit to the hallowed turf of jump racing.

- BRIAN FLANAGAN

Carlow native Lar Byrne famously owned the legendary two-time Champion Hurdle and three-time Festival winning hero Hardy Eustace back in the mid-noughties.

And two decades on he was back celebrating with a family syndicate made up of his six brothers and one sister with an unlikely hero in Lecky Watson.

The 20-1 shot was perceived as just making up the numbers for Willie Mullins in a race where Closutton very much-expected Ballyburn to win.

But the heavily-backed 4/7 favourite put in a terrible round of jumping under Paul Townend, almost falling on the first circuit, to limp home back in fifth behind his plucky stablemate and jockey Sean O'Keeffe.

For Byrne and his Slaneyville Syndicate, it was a joyous moment, one they never thought they would experience again so long after the glory days of Hardy Eustace.