'I might be tough but I didn't like it' - vindicated King savours famous triumph

At a smidgeon after 11am, as Sandown's enclosures came alive with jumps fans eager to celebrate the track's great winter warmer, Alan King came off the track with a smile on his face. He would be smiling again just under four hours later, no longer smarting or aggrieved. Edwardstone has now run and everything has changed.

For Shishkin, the future undoubtedly looks different and no longer involves the Champion Chase. You might even see him in a Gold Cup trial, for this was a Tingle Creek that told us a lot, principally that Edwardstone is now indisputably the sort of superstar two-mile chaser King has always adored.

Last season's workaholic winner of the Arkle was sent to Sandown by a trainer who has felt under attack and for unwarranted reasons.