Francois Doumen further expanded his fan club when First Gold sealed the 50th running of the Pertemps King George VI Chase at Kempton Park yesterday in spectacular fashion.

The 5 to 2 second-favourite, making his British debut, travelled sweetly throughout, jumped like an old hand and answered every demand made by his jockey.

The man in question, the trainer's son Thierry, was just eight-years-old when Nupsala gave the family their first success in the race back in 1987.

But his presence in the saddle for his father's record-equalling fifth success in this race gave the victory a special feel and despite the bitter cold, emotions were running high in the winner's enclosure afterwards.

"This is so special I can't say. We work well together," explained Thierry. "We don't argue about anything, we are a great team, things are going great for us both."

Edredon Bleu, trying three miles for the first time, cut out the early running, followed closely by Beau, See More Business and First Gold.

Down the back straight with six fences to jump, Edredon Bleu was still going nicely in front but as his stamina quickly gave way, First Gold suddenly seemed to be going best of all.

See More Business, the 6 to 4 favourite in his bid to win the race for the third time, had been travelling well enough but failed to jump with much verve and when asked for his effort by Mick Fitzgerald, found precious little. Florida Pearl, who nearly fell by the wayside after an early mistake made ground from the rear division, but despite challenging hard, never looked like being able to pose a serious threat to the winner, who sealed success with a prodigious leap at the second-last fence that left the bumper St Stephen's Day crowd gasping.

Florida Pearl (11 to 2) stayed on well to finish second, beaten 10 lengths, with Bellator (33 to 1) a further 11 lengths adrift in third.

It was hard not to be impressed by First Gold's efforts. The Gold Cup sponsors - the Tote - certainly were, making him 2 to 1 favourite for top honours at Cheltenham in March.

Doumen snr explained how he had tried not to be over-confident beforehand.

"If you start saying he's a good horse then they say you are bullish. Before the race I was over-confident, he is such a good horse, he jumps so well, he goes when you ask him to, he's got the power."

However, the decision as to whether First Gold will run at Cheltenham remains firmly in the care of his owner, the Marquesa de Moratalia.

Florida Pearl's trainer Willie Mullins was magnanimous in defeat.

"He kept galloping and if the winner hadn't been there, he would have been a good winner," he said.

"There are no excuses, we just met a better horse on the day."

The eclipse of See More Business, who trailed home in fifth, was attributed to his jumping.

"He got sloppy and was missing every second fence," said Fitzgerald.

"The reason he couldn't dominate was that he was making mistakes."

Trainer Paul Nicholls added: "I asked Mick if there was any excuse and he said `None at all'. He just didn't jump well. He has had days like this before."

However, the day firmly belonged to the Doumen clan and as if to hammer the point home, their only other runner of the day, Facts Not Fiction, triumphed in the closing Pertemps Catering Handicap Hurdle to complete a memorable double.