Clan Des Obeaux provided provided Paul Nicholls with a 10th win in the 32Red King George VI Chase at Kempton.
In an incident-packed renewal, for a brief moment it looked as if the 2016 winner Thistlecrack was about to roll back the years when he hit the front, but he ultimately had no answer after the last to a rival four years his younger.
Harry Cobden - in his first full season as stable jockey to former champion trainer Nicholls - was determined not to hit the front too soon and had the confidence to take a pull alongside Thistlecrack.
A fine leap at the last sealed it and while the Colin Tizzard-trained Thistlecrack gamely stuck to his task for Tom Scudamore, he was beaten a length and half by the 12-1 winner, who is part-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson.
Tizzard's Gold Cup winner Native River was under pressure for much of the race and stuck on for third, passing the winner's stablemate Politologue for minor honours.
There had been drama at halfway, when Bristol De Mai fell at the fence in front of the stands, badly hampering Waiting Patiently, who unseated Brian Hughes.
Coneygree ran well for a long way, but Might Bite looks a shadow of the horse he was when winning the race 12 months ago.
Clan Des Obeaux is now 12-1 from 50 for the Gold Cup with Betfair.
Verdana Blue ended the long unbeaten run of dual champion hurdler Buveur D'Air in the Unibet Christmas Hurdle.
Both horses are trained by Nicky Henderson, and they had it between them from the second-last, where it looked like 1-4 favourite Buveur D'Air was always just going to do enough to hold on.
He had made a terrible blunder at the third-last, hardly taking off, although it barely checked his momentum and Barry Geraghty seemingly had everything under control as he took up the running from Global Citizen.
However, Nico de Boinville had yet to ask the mare Verdana Blue (11-2) for everything and she was gaining with every stride after the last.
Buveur D'Air had not been beaten over hurdles since the Supreme Novices' Hurdle in 2016, and while he continued to respond for Geraghty, Verdana Blue had too much speed for him this time, providing Henderson with an eighth win in the race.
La Bague Au Roi [above] produced a performance full of guts and class to win the 32Red Kauto Star Novices' Chase.
The mare has been the apple of trainer Warren Greatrex's eye for some time - and lined up contest with a perfect record over fences to date.
She was always going to be tested to the limit though, in what looked the deepest renewal of the three-mile showpiece for many a year.
Richard Johnson was happy to take a lead for two-thirds of the contest, as Red Indian and Bags Groove set the pace, until the latter disappointingly dropped away on the second circuit.
La Bague Au Roi jumped herself to the front a long way from home, gaining lengths at her fences and putting the others under pressure, including the favourite Santini, who was caught flat-footed turning in.
It was the Paul Nicholls-trained Topofthegame who loomed up as the big threat and he looked sure to win when Henry Cobden kicked him into a lead approaching the second-last, but he met the fence wrong.
That gave La Bague Au Roi (8-1) the advantage again and like a terrier she would not be denied, flying the last and keeping on for a length-and-a-half victory.
