The grey for Gold? Kitzbuhel gives Mullins lots to ponder after answering Final Demand

The easy-to-back 11-1 shot delivered impressively under Harry Cobden in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. Now a Gold Cup bid or a tilt at King George glory await

ROARING HOME: Harry Cobden on Kitzbuhel comes home to win the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

The nature of the racing game is to always look forward. Even in the elation of a Cheltenham Festival victory, thoughts quickly turn to what might be rather than what just happened.

The Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase is a particular case in point. It’s a big race, a Grade One in its own right, but it’s viewed almost entirely through the prism of identifying the following year’s Gold Cup winner even though no horse has followed up in the blue riband since Lord Windermere’s 2014 triumph.