Haggas said: "I thought we had won but the longer it went on I thought I would settle for the
dead-heat.
Cole said: "It was a thrilling finish, they are two good horses, but I think it's a great result for the race, a
dead-heat - we'd have settled for that before.
Son of Rest is the first Irish-trained winner of the big race and handler Stack said: "I thought he'd got back up, but I said to his owner Brian Parker coming off the stand I'd settle for a
dead-heat.
He doesn't appeal in a much classier contest so we find ourselves looking at the other horse involved in the
dead-heat, Fashion Line.
Although Tickity Bleue
dead-heated on New Year's Eve and Kumbeshwar was a respectable third in the Fairlawne Handicap Chase at Cheltenham on Wednesday, Barbury Castle has been very quiet after a good start to the season proper.
"I had a look up and the camera was on Connor and this young man can't stop riding winners so I was just glad to force the
dead-heat."
The duo crossed the line holding hands, ensuring the race finished in a deliberate
dead-heat, with both men recording a time of two hours, 11 minutes, 48 seconds.
The five-year-old, owned by JP McManus, is unbeaten in two runs over hurdles, but his head victory at Gowran and his
dead-heat at Navan have both come on testing ground.
Punters were left agonising for some 15 minutes until a
dead-heat the first in the 20 years of the Breeders' Cup was confirmed.
'He keeps improving and even with a
dead-heat that is a great result,' said Cumani's travelling head lad Ian Willows.