Jim Culloty: Such a slow pace wouldn't have beaten Best Mate
The Gold Cup win for Kicking King was very similar to Best Mate's first victory in the race, when he was travelling really well all the way, jumped every fence well and won with something to spare.
Kicking King also had Sir Rembrandt 13 lengths back in third yesterday, whereas he was less than a length behind me on Best Mate 12 months ago.
But I don't think you can read too much into that, because all the jockeys were telling me when they came into the weighing room afterwards that they didn't go at any sort of a pace this year.
Sir Rembrandt, who would have preferred softer ground, travelled really well all through the race, which proves that they can't have been going much of a gallop. The reason he got so close to Best Mate last year was that it turned into a dour test of stamina.
It was clear before yesterday's race that Kicking King was the class horse left in it, and that he'd win if he got the trip, which he clearly did. But the fact that they went such a slow pace must have helped him to get home.
You can't be sure that he would have done it against Best Mate, who really does stay the trip and has a turn of foot, too.
It should be a great race if the two of them turn up next year, though, and I just hope that the ground is like it was yesterday. It would have been perfect for both horses this time, whereas Kicking King is a horse who would go on softer ground a lot better than Best Mate would.
Looking at Take The Stand, who finished second, I'm confident that Kicking King would have needed to finish a good deal more than five lengths in front of that one if he was going to beat Best Mate.
I'm told that one bookmaker has Kicking King at 4-1 for next year, and Best Mate at 8-1. Our horse is getting older - he'll be 11 next year - but he's had so little racing this far in his life that he should be able to go for a good while yet, and the problem he suffered with a broken blood vessel that kept him out of the Festival should be fine once he's had a good rest.
Jockeys aren't allowed to bet but if they were, I know which one of those I'd be backing.
I've not had a winner at the Festival this year, but the four-day meeting has been a good one for everyone. The crowds were down on the first three days, but that meant that it was easier for everyone to get around, and the clerk of the course Simon Claisse and his team have done a great job keeping the ground fresh all week.
That's the most important thing for us, because there would be no racing if there was no decent ground to race on.
There have been some great races for the crowd to enjoy this week, but for the jockeys in the weighing room, the one that we enjoyed the most was Mattie Batchelor winning Thursday's first race on King Harald.
There were 40 jockeys waiting to cheer him when he came back. There's not a more popular man in the weighing room, he lost his mother only a month ago, and he was also in trouble with the Jockey Club a couple of weeks ago.
He lost his irons at the last fence, and he still managed to get the horse home.
It was one of the rides of the meeting, and a real fairytale for him.