Peace And Co (nearest) and Top Notch do battle over the last© Photo Healy Racing
Peace And Co gave trainer Nicky Henderson his sixth success in the JCB Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham after a hard-fought battle with stable companions Top Notch and Hargam
Barry Geraghty rode a patient race on the 2-1 favourite, as Dicosimo made the running before finding his way to the near side rail to make his challenge on the run to the final flight.
He was soon on the heels of his two stablemates at the last and it quickly developed into a duel between the two principals, owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede.
Peace And Co, a winner on the course in January, powered up the hill to land the spoils by a neck from Top Notch, with Hargam and Tony McCoy four lengths away in third.
Geraghty said: "He's a lovely horse, he travels well and jumps. The ground was hard work and it probably killed his speed, but I could afford to sit and wait and I knew the longer I waited the better his chance.
"As the rain fell I knew the gap between him and Top Notch would shorten, but I always felt this fella had that little kick to do it.
"The ground is soft, it's not desperate and where it's fresh it's not too bad."
Henderson said: "They had to come here and do that, but it's a bit of bad luck that you have to go beating up your own troops.
"Peace And Co would jump fences if he had to, but I don't suppose we'll be doing that for a while."
Henderson added: "We know Michael Dickinson had the 'famous five' (in the 1983 Gold Cup) and Willie (Mullins) has monopolised this meeting all week, it's quite nice to do something totally ridiculous.
"These have been three really good four-year-olds and have looked the best all the year through.
"When the rain came I thought the ground had gone against Hargam, but it had brought Top Notch into favour. Peace And Co goes on anything.
"We had a poll in the yard to try and put the three in the right order and Peace And Co came out on top. They have never worked together.
"Coming to the last, there were two of them owned by Simonr Munir and Isaac Souede and the other was JP (McManus) ridden by AP (McCoy). At the last three different results were possible and it was quite nice knowing that surely one of them was going to do it from there."
Henderson went on: "You couldn't not run them all, they've looked the top three all season, we had to run them all - it's the championship.
"Simon and Isaac were brave enough to let them both run and they've been rewarded with first and second.
"Barry thinks Peace And Co should definitely go to Aintree, but we'll see how they all come out of it.
"Peace And Co is definitely a chaser, whether he's a four-year-old chaser I'm not so sure, but he will jump a fence.
"Top Notch is very brave, I'm proud of them all. They've all had a few issues and it's been a big effort to get them all here.
"We only have one or two runs before this race, I think that is our secret, they can't be busy. Hopefully they've all got big futures."
