The anticipation of this Gold Cup had been so prolonged, so intense, that Cheltenham was reduced to a cathedral hush in the final preliminaries. Never before can so many people have packed the paddock terraces, the balconies and all conceivable vantage points - faces agog, voices dropped to whispers for fear of disturbing the reverie.

Add in the millions of words written and spoken in advance, the rosettes, badges and battlebus, and it was an impossible burden for any race to carry. The fondly imagined outcome of champion and challenger jumping the last fence together proved undeliverable.

Instead, in the mizzle of an overcast afternoon, the 65,000 lucky souls inside a clamorous Prestbury Park hailed a mighty new champion and one of the great training feats of all time, which was hardly a poor swap.

Denman vindicated the wildest of boasts by his co-owner, Harry Findlay, and gave his jockey, Sam Thomas, a dream to fill his sleeps for months to come. Seven lengths back, Kauto Star was just a short-head clear of his other, neglected stablemate, Neptune Collonges, completing a 1-2-3 for Paul Nicholls.

Billed as the tank against the Maserati, it proved almost the opposite. Kauto Star, backed to odds-on just before the off, treated his fences as if he had the bulk to flatten them, which palpably he does not. Ruby Walsh said he never felt comfortable. Nicholls said he disliked the tacky ground. Whatever the reason, this was way below his best.

Denman, by contrast, jumped and travelled supremely smoothly, without needing to engage overdrive. He won too easily for it to be as memorable as the build-up demanded but the most appealing product is that we have an unbeaten champion over fences with still untapped potential.

Even now, after two seasons chasing at high level, he has not been properly tested. This was his ninth win in nine starts over fences and the authority of it surprised even Nicholls.

“The form wasn't there to be confident of Denman,” he said. “He's taken a step forward today that none of us could be sure he was capable of.”

Findlay, of course, had been exuberantly sure, and his co-owner, Paul Barber, reservedly so. Barber, whose last act every night is to walk the 50 yards from his front door to Denman's stable, just to reassure himself before bed, watched from the same spot on the lawn he had occupied when See More Business won him a first Gold Cup in 1999.

A farmer by upbringing, he reflected: “I'd always told everyone my ambitions in life were to milk 1,000 cows and own a Gold Cup winner. I milk 2,000 these days, so I needed a second Gold Cup.” Findlay, in black shirt and fluorescent mood, interjected: “Have a bet now that he'll be milking 3,000 when he wins his third next year.”

It was Barber who revealed that the horses had been given a police escort to the course on the advice of Michael Dickinson, present yesterday 25 years on from training the first five home in the Gold Cup. Nicholls embraced this precaution as he has embraced every other aid. “The man eats, sleeps and breathes horses,” Barber said.

Not the least of Nicholls's laudable traits is loyalty. When Walsh was injured in November, Nicholls rejected the notion of recruiting a senior deputy and insisted that the rides on the star horses should go to his stable number two. Thomas, still only 23, has repaid him in spades..

Half-an-hour before the Gold Cup, though, the relationship endured untimely strain. Thomas had ridden an erratic finish aboard the wayward The Tother One in the three-mile novice hurdle. Nicholls gave him a public pep talk outside the winner's enclosure and Thomas then spent precious preparation minutes with the stewards, who suspended him for a day.

“He got a cussing from the trainer and he's been under a lot of pressure this week,” Nicholls said. “But he handled it supremely well in the race and I'm very proud of him.”

Whether Thomas keeps the ride next season was a matter deferred by all. For now, he rode his first Festival winner in a Gold Cup, a rare feat but not unprecedented. Earlier yesterday, indeed, Cheltenham had said farewell - at least as a jockey - to Conor O'Dwyer, who did the same in 1996.

Thomas admitted to feeling “bewildered” after a race that panned out precisely as he had planned. Neptune Collonges is even fonder of front-running than Denman, so offered a free tow for the first circuit. Once the baton was passed, or rather wrested away, the result soon looked in little doubt.

Walsh was unable to cajole Kauto Star close enough to compete with the mighty rhythm of the leader. Five from home, the crowd sensed it, too. A throaty roar began to build as the championship changed hands in a few loping strides and a couple more prodigious leaps.

Close home, Denman was tiring and Kauto Star would have been closer but for another clumsy jump at the last. He would not have won, though. This was not his day. The question now is whether his day will come again, or whether the mighty machine that is Denman has asserted unshakeable superiority.