The grail

Hi

What is the meaning of to grab the grail? Any connection with the holy grail? Is it being successful after a serie of failures? Is it achieving the very difficult or the unexpected?

The sentence in question is: It so happened that someone else published a paper just ahead of her. Her research group then GRABBED THE GRAIL at the very end of the year, showing that her fermions did exist as molecules...

Thanks.

JC

Yes, it's an association with the holy grail, representing the ultimate prize in a search.