Paradise lost for Foley, Paradise found for Wylie

Declan Colley, Cheltenham

Cheltenham is a theatre of dreams in more ways than one, but the dream died for Tom Foley and thousands of Irish punters when Royal Paradise failed to justify 9/2 joint-favouritism for the Royal and SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle and trailed in seventh behind No Refuge.

Foley, who kept the nation enthralled throughout the 1990's with his first stable star Danoli, had huge hopes for Pat Delaney's five-year-old and had reasonable expectations of winning this race for a second time, having secured it with Danoli originally in 1994.