UPPER Lambourn trainer Warren Greatrex was left fighting back the tears after stable star Cole Harden produced a fantastic front-running display to clinch glory in the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

One of the emerging stars of the training ranks in recent years, Greatrex moved to Uplands stables in Upper Lambourn with a team of just 15 horses after a spell as private trainer to Malcolm Denmark came to an end in 2012 and his subsequent progress has been rapid, with Cole Harden the star in a 70-plus strong string.

A talented bumper performer before mixing it with the best as a novice hurdler last season, the six-year-old got the current campaign off to a fine start with victory at Wetherby in early November, but floundered in the winter mud.

A particularly disappointing effort in January's Cleeve Hurdle caused Greatrex to take immediate action and with a breathing operation working the oracle, he provided his trainer and fledgling jockey Gavin Sheehan with a first taste of Festival success.

Greatrex, whose grounding in the sport included spells working for legendary trainers David 'Duke' Nicholson and Josh Gifford, leapt for joy in the parade ring before being left lost for words due to the scale of what he had achieved.

He said: "I'd like to think I'm quite a cool customer, but it's all gone wrong and it turns out I'm (crying) like a girl! The Duke would have been kicking me!

"We've just won the World Hurdle. I can't believe it. The wind operation's worked hasn't it?

"I'm never short of words, but I'm shocked."

Cole Harden galloped on relentlessly to the final flight, skipped over in style and bounded clear up the famous hill to beat the Paul Nicholls-trained pair Saphir Du Rheu and Zarkandar by three and a quarter lengths and the same.

Greatrex said: "We've just won a Grade One and beat the best, so we're here, aren't we?

"If you're going to break your duck (at Cheltenham), you may as well do it in a big one.

"I said I thought he had a serious chance. He's done what I thought he could do and he's won well.

"When he came back in after the summer I was having trouble with his wind. I was struggling to get him up the gallops.

"I sent him away to be tested, but nothing came back and he then went and won at Wetherby, so what do you do but carry on?

"After that the soft ground came and I was struggling and he wasn't right in the Cleeve. I knew we had to do something with him.

"I was never really confident (during the race), but I thought going to two out they needed to start getting a shimmy on if they were going to get him and coming to the last I was thinking 'we're in here'.

"The ground is key and you need the horse to be right, but what a horse.

"I hope there'll be plenty more to come, but your first Festival winner is everything.

"I can't tell you how much belief I have in Cole Harden. He's a proper, hard, come-and-get-me horse with the heart of a lion."

The trainer reserved special praise for his jockey, adding: "He's had a tough week and he's trying to compete with the big boys as well.

"It's his first winner and he only had his first ride here last year. Today's showed the talent he's got and the belief I have in him.

"I told him to go out there and not leave anything out there and that we'd take them wherever they need to go to get past us.

"I told Gavin 'this horse is the real deal' and we've just won a Grade One and beat the best."

Asked if Cole Harden will run again this season, Greatrex said: "I don't know. He might need a rest, I know I do.

"I think he'll keep on improving and would make a great chaser. Can you imagine him doing that over fences?

"But sometimes you just have to stay at what you're good at, so we'll see.

"It's party time! We know how to party in Lambourn."

Sheehan said: "It's pretty special - very, very special.

"Warren got me psyched up before the race. With fractions, you can't get them right all the time but you can only feel what your horse is giving and he gave me an exceptional ride. His jumping was brilliant. He was very quick and did everything right.

"I was very nervous coming down the hill, I was holding on to him and wondering if I should send him on. Then I turned into the straight and he kept picking up and I was like 'where is everybody' but when I saw the line, it meant everything."