Racing: Kauto Star's official rating has been left unchanged on 176 after his victory in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham on Friday.
Phil Smith, head of handicapping at the BHB, rates the win slightly below that level on 172 but says the slow pace in the Festival showpiece meant Kauto Star did not need to produce his best to score.
The Paul Nicholls-trained seven-year-old was reported to have come out of the race in good shape, but may have to wait until the Tingle Creek at Sandown in December to try and better his current rating.
"I've decided to leave him on 176," Smith said.
"Looking at the race, there were lots of marker horses in it that I think have run their race such as State Of Play, L'Ami, Neptune Collonges and Monkerhostin who came back to form, as well as Exotic Dancer.
"Because it was a slowly-run race, I don't think Kauto Star has actually had to perform his very best to actually win, and his performance rating for the race is 172.
"It's not his fault of course and he did everything he needed to do at Cheltenham. Just in terms of the innate performance, he didn't need to achieve quite what he had already this year to win the race.
"But that's just because of the way it was run - the jockey was only going to ride him to win it."