Florida Pearl is now officially the best steeplechaser in Ireland - but he still has ground to make up on the top English horse, Teeton Mill.

After his exciting success at Leopardstown on Sunday, Florida Pearl has been raised 2lb in the ratings by the Irish handicapper Noel O'Brien.

That puts Florida Pearl on 167, a pound ahead of Dorans Pride, but the young superstar of Irish racing still lags behind the King George V1 Chase winner, Teeton Mill, who is on 170.

"Sunday proved that Florida Pearl is back with a bang. I thought he jumped particularly well and he quickened like a high-class animal. It could be churlish to complain that he didn't go away from Escartefigue but the jury is still out on whether he will stay a true run Gold Cup at Cheltenham," O'Brien said yesterday.

He added: "Taking Escartefigue as a line, it is arguable that Teeton Mill was more impressive in beating him than Florida Pearl was. The mitigating factors are that the King George and the Hennessy are three mile races on relatively flat tracks. The Cheltenham course and the three miles and two furlongs of the Gold Cup can make a huge difference. One Man, for instance, was caught out a number of times by the final quarter mile."

Escartefigue will be dropped 1lb to 164 after his performance on Sunday, a performance that almost exactly mirrored last year's SunAlliance Chase. What will intrigue in the 38 days until the Gold Cup is the question of whether Florida Pearl was idling or stopping in front on Sunday.

"It may be that once he gets to the front he thinks the job is done," said O'Brien. "If you look back, Florida Pearl won the SunAlliance by just a length and a half, he won the PJ Moriarty by a length and on Sunday he won by two lengths. Either he idles in front or there are serious doubts about him seeing out the Gold Cup trip. That will only be answered in March."

Florida Pearl and his stable companion, Alexander Banquet, who is bound for the SunAlliance Hurdle, were both reported to be in "great form" yesterday.

The same comment applied to the Ericsson winner, Dorans Pride, whose trainer Michael Hourigan was a particularly interested spectator at Leopardstown on Sunday.

"I thought it was a good race, a competitive race and the Gold Cup should be good fun," Hourigan said yesterday. "I was impressed with the second horse (Escartefigue). I think with a pair of blinkers on him he will take a bit of beating. There have been no problems with our horse and we are just looking forward to Cheltenham." Boss Doyle will miss the Gold Cup after injuring a shoulder in Sunday's big race.

The Mouse Morris-trained gelding pulled a muscle during the race and yesterday was also found to be suffering a low-grade infection.

Morris said that some others of his string had picked up the infection as well but gave the Arkle Trophy favourite, His Song, a clean bill of health.

Renewed speculation that all is not well with Teeton Mill was denied yesterday. A newspaper

report suggested that the horse's training is being hindered by a condition called azoturia.

But after saddling Master Pilgrim to win the opening race at Fontwell yesterday, Venetia Williams said: "Teeton Mill is fine."

The gravest threat to Istabraq's defence of his Champion Hurdle title is the gelding's recent lack of serious match practice, Aidan O'Brien said yesterday.

Although the seven-year-old is unbeaten in four outings this season, the inability of his rivals to present him with a stern challenge is causing his trainer concern.

"That is the bothering part about this year," said the Ballydoyle trainer, who will again send Theatreworld for the Champion, in which he has finished runner-up for the past two years.

"He is finding his races so much easier, and there are minuses and pluses to that. That is probably why he is so much heavier.

"We are just going to have to hope that he is a better horse this year than he was last year."

O'Brien, who will send Le Coudray for the Stayers' Hurdle, Give It Holly for the Festival Bumper and Darapour for either the County Hurdle or the Coral Cup, went on: "At this stage it looks very good, but he has to get through the next six weeks trouble-free, then we will see what he can do this year."

Eddie Delahoussaye returns to the winner's enclosure at Santa Anita on Sunday after Sweetcakesanshakes had given him the 6,000 victory of his career. He is the 14 US-based jockey to reach that total.