He was fantastic. Just the way he did it, the whole race. The way he jumped, the way he settled, the way he travelled were all prefect but for him to then quicken up the way he did at the end of a three-mile race was the most exciting thing. Basically, it can be said for sure now that he's a horse that's capable of winning a Grade One twomile race but who stays for three as well.

It's the equivalent of having an athlete who can win over 400m and 800m. A rare combination.

The obvious next question is whether or not he'll get the extra quarter-mile up the hill in the Gold Cup and all I can say for an answer to that is to come back to me around 3.30pm on 16 March next year. If we can get him there in one piece, that's when we'll find out. I'll know for sure when the rest of you know for sure.

All I know is that we've got a really special one on our hands and just now I wouldn't like to be on board anything else for the Gold Cup. You'd have to fancy him even more so for the King George, although the one thing I'd say about Kempton is that it's a right-handed track and Paul Nicholls and I think he's a better horse going left-handed.

We were anxious going into last Saturday, no doubt about it. All we were worried about was whether or not he'd get the three miles. I guess I thought he would without ever being able to say for sure that he would. Our first run over fences with him was over two miles, two furlongs at Newbury as a four-yearold and generally if a fouryear-old can stay that distance comfortably enough, you can take it that he'll get further as he gets older. But you can never be sure until it happens.

It was exciting beforehand, even just on the journey to Haydock. The potential was there for the day to turn out to be something special and it all hinged on this one element . . . staying the trip. Paul was so uptight that he didn't even watch the race. He couldn't. I suppose when you realise that something special might be about to happen, the chance that it might not becomes your worst nightmare. I've always thought that's the key to performing in all sports. You see lads playing in Croke Park and you know that part of what keeps them focused is not just the will to win but also the horrible thought in the back of their mind that they might be coming away disappointed. It's what keeps you on edge.

Paul and I and everybody else involved needn't have worried. All the build-up, all the wondering, all the doubts melted away after we jumped the second last. He was tucked in behind Ollie Magern and got in a bit deep to the fence but when he landed, I gave him a squeeze and he just came alive. That's when I knew, right at that moment. One squeeze and he was away. It was all over then, nothing left to do but take the last and when he winged that as well, he just took off like a sprinter.

As the big silly grin on my face in the television pictures showed, it was an amazing feeling to be sitting on him coming up to the line. Because I knew then for sure just how much class he had. It wasn't as if he'd battled them or worn them down and outstayed them . . . he'd just opened up and left them behind like they were stopped.

And they weren't carthorses behind him either. You can say that Iris's Gift and Kingscliff have probably had better days and that maybe Beef Or Salmon didn't run his race but the truth is if Kauto Star had given them 10lbs last Saturday, we still would have won by 10 lengths. And he could have gone faster if he'd had to but I stopped riding him a furlong from the line. There was no need to drive him home, he just kept powering away underneath me.

When you take it that this horse is only six, you know he could be anything. The Gold Cup dream is well and truly alive.

I've had a few other rides over the past fortnight that have real prospects. I was delighted with Asian Maze last Sunday at Punchestown. She's a stronger mare than she was last season and tough with it. She needed the race and if it had been her second run of the season and not her first, I would have made more use of her and put the gun to her head five furlongs out instead of two and a half. I know she would have outstayed Iktitaf, even though that was his fourth run of the season.

She was seven lengths in front of Brave Inca and it was on soft ground which I know, no matter what anybody else says, isn't her preferred ground. So whatever way you look at it, it was a credible performance. When you take the mare's allowance into consideration, I'd have to say there's much more value in an each-way bet on her for the Champion Hurdle than there is in Iktitaf.

Mick Halford's Tipperary All Star was good at Cheltenham two Saturdays ago but he wasn't as good as the 20lb the handicapper gave him says he was. It's a criminal rise in the weights.

I pushed him out from the last and he only won by three or four lengths, after all. It wasn't like he obliterated everything in sight by easing away from them.

He's not going to run much faster than he did. Harsh, but a good horse all the same. Worth keeping an eye out for as a novice.

On that same afternoon, a lot of people were impressed by Denman but I think he gets a tough time of it. Yes, he was workmanlike but that's the way he's going to be. He just does enough. He knows what to do, it's just a matter of getting him to do it. If you remember, it was the race where he veered to the left coming up the hill as Tony McCoy came with a late run on Don't Push It. I know it looked like the race might have been getting away from us but I guarantee you, if the race had kept going all the way into Cheltenham town centre, Denman wasn't going to be beaten.

A lot of horses are like that. They get in front and think to themselves that their work is done. I guess their attitude is, "Well, I'm alone here, there's nothing else for me to get in front of, so I must be finished." But at the heart of that, I think, is a real streak of competitiveness.

They need to be reminded they're in a race and when they are, they won't beaten. It's a bit like a soccer team that sleepwalks through a game until they have a man sent off. Suddenly, they wake up and start playing. That's Denman for you. He'll do the same again at Newbury today, I have no doubt.

For all the good news, though, Thursday morning brought a sad loss in Willie Mullins' yard. Missed That broke his pelvis on the gallops and severed an artery and had to be put down. The loss of any horse is tragic and the fact that this was one with so much promise and ability doesn't make it any easier. I'll always remember him for winning the Cheltenham bumper on him and although I missed out on some of his wins last season through injury, he was one myself and Willie were really looking forward to for this year. I suppose he'll always be remembered for what he could have become.

A death like that has a big effect on the yard. Willie's seen it so often at this stage that he knows just how to handle it but for a lot of the young lads it can be devastating. People who only see the horses at the races sometimes don't realise the effect they have on the people who see them every day. When I ride a winner on one of Willie's horses, everybody in the yard has won and it's been a good day. It's like a GAA club winning a match on a Sunday . . . everybody down to the underage players shares in it.

On Thursday, we experienced the opposite side of the coin. A sad day.