Kemboy cements position as leading staying chaser behind stablemate Photo

Kemboy (177+), so impressive when powering clear of his rivals in the Grade 1 Savills Chase at Leopardstown over Christmas, took his form up another notch when repeating the trick in Thursday's Grade 1 Betfair Bowl.

A first-fence casualty in last month's Gold Cup, he is now rated only a pound shy of the winner Al Boum Photo (178) and, like his stablemate, is only a seven-year-old and remains open to further improvement.

Runner-up Clan Des Obeaux (166) looks to have run to a similar level as when finishing fifth in the Gold Cup, although he would have finished third bar a very bad error at the last from the third home Balko Des Flos (169) who returned his best figure since landing last year's Ryanair Chase.