Paul Nicholls is unsurprised by Denman's leap in the official ratings following his brilliant Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup win at Newbury.
The seven-year-old romped home by 11 lengths on his seasonal bow, despite having to shoulder top weight of 11st 12lb under Sam Thomas.
Denman went into the race rated 161 following his Royal & SunAlliance Chase win last season but senior handicapper Phil Smith now has him on 176, just 3lb behind stablemate and Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kauto Star.
"He was bound to go up in the ratings after yesterday and is certainly going in the right direction," said Nicholls.
"He ate up within an hour of getting home last night. I have not seen him myself this morning but Clifford (Baker, head lad) is very happy with the horse."
Kauto Star and Denman are 2-1 joint-favourites for the Gold cup with Ladbrokes, but both are set to take separate paths to the Festival with the former on course for the King George VI Chase and Denman heading to Leopardstown.
Nicholls added: "He definitely goes for the Lexus Chase now, but if that were to be called off I would not be too concerned and I would look to run him somewhere at the end of January.
"I had a chance to look at the race two or three times last night and I'm immensely proud of the horse."
Smith's rating leaves Denman just 1lb adrift of last year's Gold Cup runner up Exotic Dancer and the handicapper believes he deserves all the plaudits.
"He's right up there with the other two stars that we've got, Exotic Dancer and Kauto Star," he said.
"But because he hasn't done it in a Grade One event yet, whereas the other two have, I'm going to put him a pound behind Exotic Dancer on 176.
"We'll see what happens when he runs in a Grade One, but I suspect one of them will have to put up a performance into the 180s to beat the other two.
"Normally as a handicapper I wouldn't want to see one of my races won in that way, but as a racing enthusiast it was fantastic.
"We've now got three superstars at that distance, which is great."
Paul Barber, Denman's joint-owner, is acutely aware of the difficulty in keeping racehorses sound and refuses to look towards the Cheltenham Festival just yet.
He said: "Being in the farming industry, and looking after animals all the time, I know there's so much that can go wrong between now and then (Cheltenham).
"The horse does seem to be improving, though, so it's very exciting."
Thomas has been a magnificent deputy for the injured Ruby Walsh and partnered Kauto Star to Betfair Chase glory last weekend.
The 23-year-old is likely to team up with whichever mount Walsh gives up in the Gold Cup.
Thomas said: "Both of them are special horses - they are very, very classy.
"But they are totally different, you wouldn't want to even start comparing them.
"Kauto has plenty of gears but then again, so has Denman.
"They are both exceptional horses and come the Gold Cup, it's going to be tough to split them.
"A lot can happen but if they both come to the Gold Cup, I'd be more than happy to ride either of them," he told At The Races.
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