Datsalrightgino came from last to first under Gavin Sheehan to win the Coral Gold Cup for Jamie Snowden.

Lambourn handler Snowden continues to make his mark, adding one of the most prestigious races on the calendar to his Paddy Power Gold Cup win with Ga Law and the Cheltenham Festival success of You Wear It Well.

Sheehan was not even supposed to be riding Datsalrightgino as he was meant to be heading north to Newcastle to ride his two stablemates in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Rehearsal Chase respectively.

With that meeting abandoned due to snow and frost, Sheehan stayed closer to home and produced a peach of a ride on the 16-1 winner.

Tom Cannon was the man to make way for Sheehan and how he must have felt watching Datsalrightgino cruise into contention was anyone’s guess.

When Cloudy Glen dropped back after making most of the running it left the Harry Redknapp-owned Shakem Up’Arry and John McConnell’s Mahler Mission at the head of affairs.

Mahler Mission soon took over and he briefly looked set to atone for his late fall at Cheltenham in March with a race at his mercy, but Sheehan nursed his mount into race given his stamina doubts and he certainly was not stopping as he crossed the line three and three-quarter lengths in front.

Monbeg Genius was third with Eldorado Allen fourth.

Snowden said: “These big handicaps are very hard to win and fair play to the whole team.

“He’s not short of speed and we’ve been mainly campaigning over two miles as a novice chaser and he improved 20lb and Gavin said ‘I can’t wait to go up to three miles’. He was right, that was the first time up at three miles and how right was Gavin.

“It’s the Coral Gold Cup, it’s a wonderful, wonderful race and one of the biggest chases of the season, so you can’t really have high expectations but we knew he was in good order and we knew there might be some exposure in his mark over that trip if it worked.

“It’s weird how things work out, but thankfully Gav was on board and he knows the horse so well. Thankfully it all worked well in the end.

“He was second preference up there (at Newcastle). We did talk about it. The plan was always to come here, but you have to keep your options open. The Rehearsal was a possibility but thankfully this was on and it all came right in the end.”

Despite his big winners at Cheltenham, it was a special moment for the handler to win his local track’s feature contest.

“It is really special, the Coral Gold Cup is a home match and it is what training in Lambourn is all about, it’s the home racecourse, it’s a dream come true,” Snowden added.

“It’s the jumping centre of England in my mind – Nicky Henderson trains from there – and it’s a great place to train.

“We all need these big races and to win the Paddy Power last year was great and to win the Coral Gold Cup is wonderful, it’s a dream come true and what we are in it for.

“As boys growing up, you come here as a young lad thinking about it and here we are, it’s great.

“We’ll enjoy today and think about the future tomorrow.”