Brennan backing his Commander

"He was the champion, not me, and I felt he had not been given sufficient respect before the race," said the winning jockey after the build-up to the 2010 Gold Cup reverberated, almost exclusively, around former champions Kauto Star and Denman.

"It was never a two-horse race – I knew that, my stable knew that – and I wanted everyone to acknowledge that Imperial Commander had become the best steeplechaser in the country," said the Irish-born jockey.

He had. The Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained nine-year-old can certainly not be accused of winning a sub-standard Gold Cup. In Denman who was a distant second and Kauto Star, the reigning champion who had fallen heavily because of the exacting pace set by the young pretender, Imperial Commander had beaten two of the all-time great champions, horses who had dominated the race for the previous three years.

But, while he was, perhaps, under-rated last season, he is steeplechasing's flagbearer as he makes his seasonal reappearance in today's Betfair Chase at Haydock – the first of two races that Brennan's equine hero is scheduled to run ahead of his Gold Cup defence next March.

This is the race where Imperial Commander came within a whisker of defeating Kauto Star last year following one of the races of the season. It saw a see-saw battle up the gruelling run-in, culminating with Brennan and Ruby Walsh, the winning jockey, acknowledging each other as they flashed past the post.

"He was very unlucky last year. His head was down when Kauto's was up. I thought we'd won it at first. So did everyone there, but I suppose that the photo-finish camera never lies," lamented Brennan. "The reasoning afterwards was that Kauto was never fully wound up – and that he would improve for that run. Yes, I think they under-estimated my boy. The performance was not a surprise to me – I've always known that he is a great horse and had won many big races on him around Cheltenham, including a Paddy Power and a Ryanair at the Festival."

Brennan is unperturbed that Imperial Commander will be a hot favourite as he takes on a select seven-runner field that includes Kauto Star's progressive stablemate What A Friend, who is co-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson, and Nacarat, Tom George's galloping grey who cruised to victory in last month's Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.

"They're good horses, but I believe my horse is the best chaser in the country and I wouldn't swap him for anything," says the jockey who was a popular figure on the Yorkshire racing circuit when attached to Howard Johnson's yard.

"He hit the second in the King George last Christmas, and didn't jump well at Aintree after the Gold Cup (Brennan was unseated), but I don't think he has anything to prove.

"His strengths are his high cruising speed and his jumping – the hallmarks of a champion – and it's important to get over those first few fences and get into a nice rhythm.

"He seems in great form and he looks very fit. I schooled him the other day and he felt every bit as well, if not better, than last year.

"He's done everything that we've asked him to do at home. Nigel is happy and I was very happy with the way he schooled."

Brennan, a 28-year-old County Galway native, says the Gold Cup "has not changed him".

"If anything, it's made me more determined to win the big races," he says.

Yet, ironically, his greatest threat comes from within the powerful Twiston-Davies yard – in the form of the trainer's 18-year-old conditional jockey Sam who has enjoyed a prolific start to his career. While Twiston-Davies was finishing fifth in his first Grand National, Brennan was failing to complete the Aintree course for a fifth time.

And while the talented teenager was winning last Saturday's Paddy Power Gold Cup aboard Little Josh, the stable jockey was 35 lengths in arrears on the well-regarded Cheltenham Festival winner Pigeon Island.

Brennan is both phlegmatic and combative in response. "There are always good young jockeys coming through – and this is no different," he says. "Sam's a classy young rider and he's helping me to raise my game. You have to keep improving and I'm glad I've been able to help him – this is a great stable to be at.

"There's always pressure, whether you're in a selling hurdle at Catterick, the Betfair Chase or trying to be number one in your own yard, but I'm just privileged to be riding the best chaser in the country in Imperial Commander.

"There's no such thing as a good thing in racing but I couldn't be happier with my horse. He's the horse they've all got to beat, including Kauto Star when we come across him in the King George and Gold Cup."