Jango Baie put himself firmly in the King George VI Chase picture with a demonstrative performance in the Ladbrokes 1965 Chase at Ascot.
Despite plenty of Nicky Henderson's early-season runners needing their first outing of the season, last season's Arkle hero was sent off the 9-4 favourite, with Nico de Boinville content to allow some of the other candidates in the stellar line-up stride on in the early stages.
There was a fascinating early skirmish for the lead, with Harry Fry's Gidleigh Park eventually taking the authority and Il Est Francais and two-time race winner Pic D'orhy never too far away.
As Il Est Francais was the first to crack and faded tamely, De Boinville was smuggling Jango Baie into contention and swinging the bend for home it was simply a case of how far, with the ever-improving six-year-old striding on to a nine-length victory over Gidleigh Park who bravely plugged on for second.
Bookmakers made the winner as short as 7-1 from 20s for the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, but in the more immediate, 4-1 for Kempton's Christmas feature on Boxing Day.
Henderson told SportNews Racing: "I'm delighted to see what we have on our hands and I just hope he is all good in the morning.
"He was lame after Aintree last year and had to have a screw put in a joint which has never troubled him touch wood through his preparation and if that is all good tomorrow we can look forward.
"I haven't been in a rush with him through the early part of the autumn and we thought this was the right place to be, but we didn't exactly rush to get here. It was nice to see him ready enough to do that without a bother.
"Firstly we have to make sure he is all right in the morning and with something like that you have to always come through a test like this with fingers crossed. But we have a great team and hopefully if all is OK we can start thinking about the next plan.
"It's a fairly obvious one and I think you have to move to Kempton and have a look at it. I know he won the Arkle last year but he's not a two-miler, that we definitely know. He told us that in the Arkle and I don't know how he won the Arkle, it was ridiculous.
"This looked the obvious starting point to give us time ahead of the King George if that was the route. The Peterborough just doesn't give you that time, it's a bit later and a bit too close to Kempton.
"So we did come here to give ourselves the option and it might have been a bit optimistic but right now it might have been the right decision.
"Will he stay three? Well that was a proper gallop all the way and there was no hiding place and Nico gave him a beautiful ride. He was blatantly going the best from a long way out and he quickened too, which was something I did like."
Danny Gilligan delivered Wodhooh to perfection, as Gordon Elliott's Irish raider claimed the Ladbrokes Ascot Hurdle.
Winner of the Martin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival last season before chasing home Lossiemouth in the Aintree Hurdle, the five-year-old was the 6-5 favourite for Ascot's Grade Two event which was last won by an Irish runner when Faugheen hit the target 11 years ago.
It was the second-favourite, Sam Thomas' Welsh Champion Hurdle hero Celtic Dino, who made a bold bid on the front-end and was still in there fighting at the final flight.
However, Wodhooh had worked her way into contention and having jumped the last in unison with Celtic Dino, ate up the ground in the closing stages to pull two and a half lengths clear.
Elliott said: "She's a good mare and where she'll end up I'm not quite sure, but she keeps winning, so I'm delighted.
"We knew they were going to go quick up front on that ground so we said we would take our time, but I just liked the attitude she showed to quicken going down over the last, it was great.
"She's good and we're lucky to have her. We'll get her home now and have a chat about what we do next, I'm not too sure yet.
"Today was the plan and she's done great, so I'm delighted."
