A day after his 57th birthday, JP McManus, the most prodigious owner in National Hunt racing, got a present worth waiting for when Captain Cee Bee and Binocular, wearing the famous green and gold hoops, gave the Irishman a one-two in the Anglo Irish Bank Supreme Novices Chase, the opening race of the 2008 Cheltenham Festival.

The winner, Captain Cee Bee (17/2) , trained by Eddie Harty, was McManus’s 28th Cheltenham success, but it was Binocular (8/1), from the Jonjo O’Neill stable, whowas predicted to be the more likely McManus winner and was the choice of the owner’s retained jockey Tony McCoy.

"From what I was hearing he [Tony McCoy] was very happy with his choice, but both trainers were expecting their horses to run well. With Binocular, if there was a worry, it was if he was experienced enough having only two runs. I did not know which to fancy," said McManus, who added that he couldn’t ask for more than see both his horses coming up the hill clear.

"At the last I was looking to see how the rest of field was getting on. It was a shamethat one of my horses had to lose. It was a great race - very exciting."

For trainer Eddie Harty, son of the jockey of the same name, it was an astonishing success for Captain Cee Bee was his first ever runner at the Festival. Moreover, a jubilant trainer felt the horse didn’t how it full ability. "We knew he was pretty special. "We'll have our 40 minutes of fame and see what happens after that! We've always loved the horse, he won a Flat race last year over a mile and three by nine lengths and that vindicated to me how good the horse was and he's just proven it now. We've always felt that he was Cheltenham material.

"To be honest, he didn't like the ground today. Choc was saying that he never travelled that well early on in the race because of the ground. I was slightly worried about my fella at the top of the hill - he was slightly niggling at him. I watched it on the big screen across the track at that point and I was slightly worried that he was dropping away. But then, when he jumped it, he was in contention. Binocular seemed to be cruising but my fella jumped it well.

"It's unbelievable - you dream about things like this and you think it will never happen. It's a strange feeling to be honest. It's not the euphoria; it's the release of the pressure of the last four months. You train the horse for the one day; you have certain things go wrong, not been able to get a run into the horse. You come here after a hundred and something days with no run hoping you're not going to leave Cheltenham with egg on your face. It's a relief more than anything else.

"My grandfather, my father's father, was Captain C B Harty and he was one of the members of the first Irish team to jump when Ireland had independence. He was a trainer in his own right, a trainer of trainers, a trainer of horses, a trainer of jockeys.

"My father rode successfully but never actually got to ride a winner at The Festival even though he rode many winners at Cheltenham. When he bought this fella, he named him Captain Cee Bee, which was a brave thing to do because horses named after people or places that mean something to you usually end up no good, but this fella is here today in the right spot. It's a family triumph in every sense of the word."

Robert Thornton, the winning jockey, said: "I wasn’t liking the ground early ground and, to be honest with you, I was off grinding behind the bridle from the first down the back straight.

"He’s picked up and held his position and the one thing he can do is jump which is a great attribute round here. Off the bend A P looked as though

"He was probably going better than me but I was half confident that Captain Cee Bee  would pick up and he did. He missed the last and still got away with it. He’s gone well in ground he probably doesn’t like.

"The ground is described as good to soft and it has ridden soft for Captain Cee Bee, but he doesn’t like the ground and it depends on what you are sat on. "If you were on a horse that loved that kind off ground then it would probably ride good to soft. You wait and see a couple of race before taking a view on what the ground is like.

"Its great to ride an Irish-trained winner, although I wouldn’t want to come in here carrying the Cross of St George!"