DJAKADAM (39) really poured it on up the straight to take the valuable Thyestes handicap chase by eight lengths at Gowran Park.

I made his performance only a length or two per mile short of Gold Cup class on my ratings – and I actually gave him a slightly bigger rating for his win in the Killiney Novices Chase last year.

On His Own came within a short-head of winning the Gold Cup for Willie Mullins after clocking a very fast time to take last year’s Thyestes.

Seeing that he’s a much younger and more lightly-raced horse, I have to give Djakadam a real chance of winning chasing’s most prestigious prize for the same trainer.

Before his win in the Thyestes you could have argued against Djakadam on the grounds of stamina due to his 28-length loss in the Hennessy.

This win put any stamina doubts to rest as he was powering away at the end of a strongly-run three miles and a furlong on heavy ground.

Right now I can’t really explain Djakadam’s sub-par run in the Hennessy except to say young horses often flop the very first time they tackle experienced top class rivals in a big race like that.

One possible concern with Djakadam is that all his five wins have come on soft or heavy ground - an unlikely surface to find at Cheltenham.

However, he was still going okay in second place when tipping up four out on fast ground in last year’s JLT Novices Chase at the big meeting, so I’m not too worried on that score.