AFTER the mince pies and the racing results have been fully digested, the questions need to be asked as to how those results affect the tapestry of the jumps season, and while that normally translates to “what Cheltenham clues have we seen” that isn’t always the most helpful prism through which to view the big performances, and especially so this year.

The most impressive performance on British soil was that of Il Est Francais in the Kauto Star at Kempton, but while he’s certainly a Gold Cup horse of the future, the desire of his breeder and part-owner Nicolas de Lageneste to win the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris means he’ll be aimed specifically for that race next May, and while a run at Cheltenham in March isn’t out of the question, he’ll be due a break after his Kempton heroics, and connections may not want to give him what will in essence be a prep run in either the Turner’s or the Brown Advisory.

Whatever Noel George and Amanda Zetterholm decide, however, it must be said that Il Est Francais is as exciting a young import as we’ve seen since Long Run, albeit a year older than Long Run was when winning the same Kempton contest back in 2009. He is a more fluent jumper than Long Run too, and his fluid movement was a joy to watch.

The King George was a great story if not a great race, and it’s hard to imagine it throwing up the Gold Cup winner this season, for all Hewick promises to be better served by a stiffer test at Cheltenham. Shishkin is the obvious horse to take from the race, but while he was most unlucky to decant Nico de Boinville just as he seemed to be coming out on top, he remains an enigma, and he’s not one to trust implicitly on the back of one co-operative performance.

Constitution Hill had an easy task in the Christmas Hurdle but he still raised the pulse with an electrifying display of jumping and it’s his speed over a hurdle as much as his ability to maintain a high-tempo gallop that makes him such a unique specimen.

There were plenty of fans inclined to moan that he’s not jumping a fence, but horses who jump hurdles like he does are best kept to that discipline, and it was encouraging that Nicky Henderson said, “we want to run him” after the race, referring to an intended outing in the International Hurdle at Cheltenham next month. He will again be unbackable, but the opportunity to see greatness in the flesh doesn’t arrive every day, and he will again ensure packed stands. He’s the kind of horse we see once in a generation if we’re lucky and it behoves us to keep the cynicism in check while he’s gracing the track.

It was a wonderful week for Gary Moore, a graduate of the school of hard knocks, and father to two sons who have suffered serious riding injuries. He has much to look forward to with Salver and Nassalam after their big-race double at Chepstow but both coped really well with desperate conditions there and what they do in the future may depend on the ground, and in Nassalam’s case the handicapper.

The latter has proven himself best in the mud already and remains unexposed as a stayer under such conditions, while Salver is a gorgeous model yet to reach his physical peak and could be a top-class chaser down the line. I’d be a little wary of throwing such a horse into a Triumph Hurdle with his future career in mind, and Moore seems to thinking along similar lines, so ante-post punters should tread warily.