He had to be rowed along at the back on two occasions but rallied both times to pull himself back into contention.

Bobs Worth’s ability to rally repeatedly has made him tough to beat at Cheltenham, and I think the same will prove true for O’Faolain’s Boy.

Here the pace was fast early, slowed slightly in the middle of the race and then picked up again. He was flat to the boards early on and again when the pace quickened but just kept on finding.

He eventually pulled clear with the runner-up and outran him despite pulling off a back shoe and twisting one of his front shoes quite badly.

This run wasn’t quite as good as the one O’Faolain’s Boy put up in the Reynoldstown on my ratings. I think the problem with his shoes partly explains that. I also suspect it was down to the lightning fast ground and the way the race was run. With just a little cut in the ground I’d see O’Faolain’s Boy as a serious threat to win the Gold Cup next year.

The statistics certainly back this up. Since 1989, five of the 12 RSA Chase winners to run in the next year’s Gold Cup scored. Four of the seven that won took the RSA as O’Faolains Boy did after less than a dozen lifetime starts, including Lord Windermere this year.

Lord Windermere’s success means the last two Gold Cups having gone to the previous year’s RSA Chase winner. I can very well see O’Faolains Boy making it three in a row.

From an ante-post perspective though I would not want to be taking the 20/1 the bookies are currently offering about O’Faolains Boy for the Gold Cup.

He showed here, just as he had at Ascot, that he can easily be outpaced. Such horses are often not suited to dead flat galloping courses like Newbury and Haydock. O’Faolains Boy has run poorly when he’s run on those courses and they are the venues for his two most logical early season targets next year - the Betfair Chase and the Hennessy.

With pretty much all O’Faolains Boy’s options in the first half of next season being on flat galloping courses I suspect he’s going to have one or two more bad runs and drift out to very nice odds for the Gold Cup. I’d be accepting this by giving him just one or two runs before aiming for the Gold Cup, with his logical prep race being in the Argento Chase at Cheltenham.

Real class

Smad Place (38) showed real class and stamina to pull clear with the winner. He would have won all three of his previous chase starts but for tipping up when clear first time. It does look like he’s a bit better over the bigger jumps.

The caveat is the winner had to overcome some problems here and Smad Place has now lost all eight times that he’s tried Grade 1 company.

Smad Place has always been best fresh according to trainer Alan King so I imagine we won’t be seeing him again until next season. Most likely he won’t develop into a Gold Cup candidate but the Hennessy looks a good early season option.

Morning Assembly (36) should have been able to beat the two in front of him on his last two runs but they got away from him up the hill. He was just hunted around on the first circuit at the back then steadily moved forward to look a real threat from the fourth last. He outstayed the rest but could not go with the first two.

At this stage the only vaguely logical excuse I can put forward for this slightly sub-par runs is the fast ground. Morning Assembly has never run on anything near as firm in the past and for now I’m going with the idea it didn’t suit him.

Ballycasey (36) jumped well and moved well for an awfully long way. He was in a narrow lead rounding the home turn but ran out of gas very quickly on meeting the rising ground. He ran like a non-stayer.

Just A Par (33) moved well down the outside and improved though having to be ridden along coming down the hill towards the straight. He then stopped to nothing up the finishing hill.

This is the norm for Just A Par. He seems to be at his best on relatively flat, galloping tracks. On courses with steep gradients or tight turns he flounders. He’s won all three times that he’s run on relatively flat, galloping tracks when you include his point form but lost six out of six on tight and undulating courses.

His best run came when he won the Grade 2 Worcester Novice Chase at Newbury, earning a rating of 38 from me. That run suggests that the right race for him early next season just has to be the Hennessy Gold Cup.

Don Cossack moved better than anything all the way until he was crowded into falling at the 14th. He really seemed to appreciate the fast ground.

He’s proven himself to be one of the top novice chasers and has improved markedly for longer distances this season.

I really like his chances of winning the Champion Novice Chase at Punchestown on this run, especially if the ground is fast.