Kauto Star has regained his crown as the top-rated steeplechaser, in the annual Anglo-Irish Jumps Classifications, for the second time in his remarkable career.

Paul Nicholls’ superstar chaser was unable to reclaim the Cheltenham Gold Cup this year but nonetheless returned to the summit of the ratings, deposing Long Run.

Kauto Star’s mark of 180, two fewer than Long Run achieved 12 months ago following his Gold Cup victory, is 10lb shy of his own career-high rating in 2009/10. The 12-year-old is nonetheless top of the shop again, for the fourth time, based on his emotional fifth King George VI victory – over Long Run at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day.

Kauto Star was subsequently pulled up in what British Horseracing Authority’s head of handicapping Phil Smith yesterday described as an “Istabraq moment” in the Gold Cup – where the sold-out crowd made their appreciation obvious as Kauto Star, like the great Champion Hurdler before him, made his way off the track. His racing future remains unclear.