Knowhere jumped superbly to claim his Cheltenham success

Paddy Brennan's mount jumped the last together with the well-fancied Our Vic, ridden by Timmy Murphy.

But he outstayed the joint favourite up the testing Cheltenham hill to claim a comfortable six-length win.

The other joint favourite Neptune Collonges finished third after overcoming a mistake at the third last.

Despite his victory, Knowhere is still only a 50-1 chance with sponsors Totesport for the Gold Cup in March with Kauto Star and Denman topping the betting.

Victorious trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies said a decision on the horse's Cheltenham target would be made nearer the Festival, with the Ryanair Chase another option.

"That was great and I'm very pleased. He's always been a lovely horse," he said.

"He's only been beaten in big handicaps giving a lot of weight. He's a good horse.

"We usually hold him up but the thing was he didn't hit a flat spot today like he usually does in his races. Normally he slows down, then comes at the end."

Brennan added: "Fair play to Nigel, he's produced this horse back to his best. He deserves a lot of credit."

606: DEBATE Another impressive Cheltenham performance from Franchoek B_G

Dual World Hurdle winner Inglis Drever continued his superb record at Cheltenham with victory in the Cleeve Hurdle.

Ridden by Richard Johnson, in place of the suspended Denis O'Regan, the classy 11-8 favourite loomed up against last year's winner Blazing Bailey on the long run-up to the last.

He jumped the final hurdle cleanly and was never troubled after that.

The Alan King-trained Franchoek boosted his strong claims for the Triumph Hurdle with an impressive victory in the Wragge & Co Juvenile Novices' Hurdle.

The 10-11 favourite had his rivals struggling in the straight and went on to win by six lengths under Robert Thornton.

Letherby and Christopher Chase (Cheltenham)
1. Knowhere (P J Brennan) 16-1
2. Our Vic (T J Murphy) 3-1 Jt Fav
3. Neptune Collonges (R Walsh) 3-1 Jt Fav
8 ran

Cleeve Hurdle (Cheltenham)
1. Inglis Drever (R Johnson) 11-8 Fav
2. Blazing Bailey (R Thornton) 11-4
3. Gone To Lunch (L Heard) 25-1
10 ran