King George VI Chase: Bravemansgame lands King George VI Chase
Bravemansgame emerged from a battle with rival L'Homme Presse to give trainer Paul Nicholls a 13th win in the King George VI Chase at Kempton Park.
11-4 winner jumped the last just ahead but L'Homme Presse unseated jockey Charlie Deutsch on landing to leave the way clear.
wed Bravemansgame and jockey Harry Cobden, a winner on Clan Des Obeaux in 2018, to win by 14 lengths.
Royale Pagaille ran on for second with former winner Frodon third. 
Bravemansgame won the Kauto Star Novices' Chase on this day last season and marked his seasonal reappearance with victory in the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby with Nicholls always targeting this race for the seven-year-old.
Although Frodon was at the head of the field for much of the three-mile race, he started to fade turning from home, leaving Bravemansgame and L'Homme Presse to lead the way.
L'Homme Presse held a narrow advantage approaching the third fence from the finish, but Bravemansgame mastered him between the last two and took command.
Nicholls confirmed Bravemansgame would now head straight to March's Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
He said: "It was a hell of a race. They went a good gallop and old Frodon gave them a good lead. He stayed on strong then and showed his strengths. He is just a maturing horse and we have trained him for today.
"We will go straight to Cheltenham now and we won't run him before the Gold Cup. On better ground he travels better than he did today, but he dug deep and stayed on. 
"The other horse was a little unfortunate to lose his pilot, but he was beaten by then.
"I'm thrilled. Who knows [what would have happened if L'Homme Presse had not come to grief at the last], but he wasn't stopping. He just jumped to the front and he would have been hard to go by. You can never be certain, but it looked that way to me watching. 
"I'm lucky enough to have the horses good enough to do it and the capability of a team that is good enough to get them right on the day."
Earlier, Champion Hurdle favourite Constitution Hill earned a comfortable win in the Christmas Hurdle.
One of National Hunt's current stars, who went off at 1-7 under Nico de Boinville, was never troubled as he backed up his easy win in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle last month with a 17-length win over stable-mate Epitante.
It was a fourth Grade One success for the five-year-old and an 11th win in the race for trainer Nicky Henderson.
"That was only his fifth race and again it was everything you'd hoped for," said Henderson.
"You just have to pray it all goes right. It's not that easy. It's not just a matter of going out there and coming back; you've got to jump hurdles and be in good shape - which he is - but so was Epatante, I haven't seen her look better.
"Aidan said she's probably run better than when she won this on the bridle last year, but he said he was only chasing shadows so it shows you what he is achieving - it's frightening really."
Earlier, Paisley Park put in a strong finish to claim his third Long Walk Hurdle.
9-2 chance, who turns 11 on New Year's Day, struggled at one point and seemed to be out of contention.
But as the leading two Champ and Goshen looked to fight it out, Paisley Park found a second wind under Aidan Coleman to race clear.
Grade One race was scheduled to be held at Ascot earlier this month but was rescheduled because of bad weather.
"We didn't know what to expect but Aidan was calm," assistant trainer Barry Fenton told ITV Racing. "He was a bit cold over the first two hurdles but I was happy going to the third last. 
"He kept plugging away and he's an unbelievable horse."