That's good news. I wasn't sure if you still had to download the blockchain even if you were connected to a pool. Thanks for that. Is that pretty well a standard situation for mining pool configurations?
As far as I can tell, it is a standard situation with any mining pool, no matter the coin, no matter the algo. You have to trust the pool, of course, that they do their part of the job properly, but that's it. I have mined quite a few different coins in the past, and I never had to worry about the blockchain being updated.
Now that being said, the question is how you will spend the coins you have earned via the mining pool? For that, you may need a fully functional valet and also you may need to download the full blockchain just to send the coins to an exchange, for example. This may depend on the type of valet, and on the type of coin.