If ever the saying 'there is a God' fitted the bill it came to pass after Miss Mary Mac landed the bumper in a canter in the hands of Mikey O'Connor.

Lorna Casey, from Newmarket-On-Fergus, Co. Clare trains the well-backed winner (7/2 into 9/4 favourite) and she would likely have had a double had Munster Lass not fallen at the last in the opener.

That was a particularly sickening blow for Casey and the local owners, the Shannon Seven Syndicate as Munster Lass had to be destroyed.