Punchestown Gold Cup showdown: Kauto-Denman potential in Mullins pair

A Kauto Star and Denman-like mythology has not yet built up around stablemates Al Boum Photo and Kemboy, but the potential is clearly there, not least because this pair of seven-year-olds are a year younger than when Kauto first met Denman in the 2008 Gold Cup.

There is also the scope for similar casting, which could hardly be easier once the two horses' racing styles are inspected. Al Boum Photo is clearly the Denman in this relationship.

He does not quite have Denman's front-running machismo, in fact he rather handily has the speed to win Graded races around 2m4f, but in every other sense he is a resolute galloper. He first began to show it last spring, most notably in his non-completions at Cheltenham and, rather famously, at Punchestown.