King hailed as 'one of the best'

The horse, trained by Tom Taaffe and ridden by Barry Geraghty, went off as the 3-10 favourite.

But he ended up second best to the 7-1 shot War of Attrition, ridden by jockey Conor O'Dwyer.

O'Dwyer's mount moved to challenge with two to go and jumped the last fence strongly to stretch out his rivals.

Kicking King jumped well and was well-placed throughout the race, taking the lead briefly six fences from home, although he could not shake off the challenge of Pizarro, ridden by Ruby Walsh.

War of Attrition's arrival ensured a grandstand finish with the 2004 Supreme Novices' Hurdle runner-up emerging victorious.

I was thrilled with the way he jumped Kicking King's trainer Tom Taaffe

Kicking King, who made a slight mistake at the last, managed to hold off the challenge of Pizarro by a short head for second and is still favourite for another Gold Cup title.

Trainer Taaffe refused to be too down-hearted about the outcome of the race and is confident Kicking King will improve for the outing.

"He came here a fresh horse and he was as fit as he was at Gowran last year. I thought he ran a fantastic race and he will now be spot-on for Haydock," he said.

"I don't want to take anything away from the winner, but I'd rather get beaten here than at Haydock, Sandown or Cheltenham.

"It would have been nice to have won, but I'm more than happy with him - I was thrilled with the way he jumped."

The victorious trainer Mouse Morris was delighted to see his six-year-old win but refused to confirm whether his mount would take part in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

"He looked fairly burly and I will now look at a couple of races at Down Royal for him," he said.

"He won't be going to Haydock as he doesn't have as much experience as the others and at the moment the Ryanair Chase over two miles and five furlongs at the Festival is still his long-term target."