Trials Day is huge for Britain’s leading trainer Dan Skelton ahead of Cheltenham Festival battle with the Irish

Ben Linfoot continues his series by looking at Dan Skelton’s Cheltenham squad with a crucial Trials Day on the horizon.

Dan!

Not since Alan Partridge tried to attract the attention of his new pal in the car park for the Norfolk Bravery Awards will the name Dan have been mentioned so often in such a short space of time.

But here we are.

Dan Skelton is building an unassailable (?) lead in the British trainers’ championship. Dan Skelton is assembling a new ‘best-ever’ team for the Cheltenham Festival. Dan Skelton has ammunition for the championship races like never before. Dan Skelton is still lining them up for the handicaps like he always has.

And Dan Skelton takes aim at Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham this weekend with Grey Dawning and The New Lion, two of the biggest guns from his Warwickshire yard.

In the space of 40 minutes on Saturday afternoon both have the opportunity to disrupt the Unibet Champion Hurdle and Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup antepost markets in a big way as Britain’s leading trainer readies his troops for the Festival battle with the Irish in seven weeks’ time.

Dan! Dan!

First up will be Grey Dawning in the Grade 2 Betfair Cotswold Chase at 14.25.

Now here is a trial that could do with a sprinkling of Dan magic. The last time this race proved a successful Gold Cup trial was 26 years ago when Looks Like Trouble won both races for Noel Chance.

Why is that? Well, this is a Grade 2 and it has mostly been won by Grade 2 horses. Gold Cup winners like Best Mate, Kicking King, War Of Attrition, Kauto Star, Imperial Commander, Long Run, Synchronised, Sizing John, A Plus Tard, Galopin Des Champs and Inothewayurthinkin all prepped in Grade 1s. None ran here.

Since Looks Like Trouble the Cotswold Chase cast are 0/48 in Gold Cups. Exotic Dancer, Djakadam and Santini fared best, as all were second in the Gold Cup after running in the Cotswold, the latter going down to Al Boum Photo by a neck in 2020.

Close, but the trial could do with another Gold Cup winner. Is Dan the man to pull off such a feat?

He could do, but there are five horses ahead of Grey Dawning, a 12/1 chance, in the Gold Cup betting and there are still some questions for the nine-year-old to answer.

Number one is stamina. We know Grey Dawning has got the stamina for the extended three miles, one furlong and a bit around a galloping track like Haydock Park, on good to soft ground, but the Gold Cup is more of a test.

It’s a furlong further than that on a stiffer course and while the Cotswold Chase is the same distance as the Betfair Chase, it is at Cheltenham, it looks likely to be run on softer ground and it should give us further evidence regarding his staying power.

Certainly, the ridden-cold tactics employed in the Betfair Chase will be more difficult to pull off in a Gold Cup, so gaining some more track practice looks a smart move and tackling L’Homme Presse, a strong stayer at this trip, while giving weight to Irish trio Spillane’s Tower, Stellar Story and Flooring Porter, looks a pretty useful Festival tune-up.

Number two is simply whether he is good enough, but we won’t find that out here, unless the answer is he isn’t. We’ll have to wait until Gold Cup day.

Dan! Dan! Dan!

In The New Lion’s case, we should have a very good idea about his Champion Hurdle credentials around four minutes and 20 seconds after 3pm.

While Grey Dawning takes on horses who are all 100/1+ in the Gold Cup market, The New Lion is all set to bang heads with the 5/4 favourite for the Unibet Champion Hurdle. Sir Gino, seven from seven, stands in his way.

It’s a real coup for Trials Day and on the back of Lossiemouth and Constitution Hill winning the first two renewals since it moved to this day from the December meeting, it’s further evidence the shifting of the Unibet (International) Hurdle was a wise move.

In a day and age where the big battles are almost solely confined to the Festival, it feels a rare treat, much like Jonbon v Energumene in last year’s Clarence House, but as long as nobody blinks it looks like it’s on and we should learn plenty.

There’s no doubt Sir Gino looks a class act, but he also looks sure to go back over fences at some stage and Champion Hurdle winners are usually specialists in the sphere.

Could he give his hurdles too much air? Will he get away with it if he does? Can his speed and natural talent be too much for The New Lion to handle? Could the 3lb The New Lion gets be crucial in the final analysis?

It’s a compelling spectacle of the sort we have rarely seen in this division on these shores prior to March in recent years and one thing is for certain; The New Lion is the best hurdler Sir Gino has ever faced (over hurdles).

The New Lion is, of course, on a retrieval mission after falling in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle two from home, when having every chance of winning, at Newcastle on his reappearance.

But that was the race that confirmed to Skelton he was on the right trail with the Champion Hurdle plan and the combination of 2m1f, Cheltenham and soft ground could be absolutely perfect for him.

Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan!

Grey Dawning and The New Lion aren’t the only Skelton horses on trial for the Festival at Cheltenham on Saturday.

There’s also Maestro Conti in the JCB Triumph Trial, Bossman Jack and Carlenrig in the Grade 2 AIS Novices’ Hurdle and Nurse Susan in the Cleeve (although she’s also entered in the Grade 2 Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle up at Doncaster).

They will be aiming to confirm their places amongst a Skelton Festival squad that has more strength in depth than ever before.

There’s L’Eau Du Sud and potentially Thistle Ask for the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

There’s Kabral Du Mathan as a Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle possible, even if he is more likely to be saved for Aintree.

There’s Protektorat for the Ryanair Chase and the thriving Panic Attack for the Mares’.

There’s Mydaddypaddy for the Sky Bet Supreme, there’s Be Aware, Kadastral, Sinnatra, Supreme Malinas and Moneygarrow all trying to force their way into the picture.

We haven’t even mentioned the handicappers.

There’s too many to mention. But Live Conti is already County Hurdle favourite, Nurse Susan is getting that way in the Coral Cup, Boombawn, another who could run on Saturday, looks like he is being lined up for something, Supremely West is (more than) qualified for the Pertemps.

And Doyen Quest, so brave in defeat in the rearranged Hampton Court at Windsor on Sunday, went right to the top of my ‘potentially interesting novices in the Ultima’ list.

Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan! Dan!

Around this time last year Dan Skelton spoke of the pressures of expectation a year on from having four winners at the Cheltenham Festival.

He said: “The hard thing now is the position we’re in, we have to have a winner because if we don’t you guys [the media] will say ‘they didn’t have a winner and they should have’, because realistically we should. We’re one of the bigger teams and we should.

“It’s new territory for us and that new reality that failure can be measured. Before when you’re only starting and you’re coming up through the ranks it’s your successes that are measured not your failures. Now when you get further up your failures get measured more than your successes!”

Skelton had one winner at last year’s Cheltenham Festival, The New Lion, in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle.

It wasn’t a failure, but it was part of the reason why he couldn’t hold off the Willie Mullins charge in the race for the trainers’ title and he’ll be hoping the Festival team he has assembled this time around can yield more success.

Trials Day will tell us plenty in that regard. And further Cheltenham wins for Grey Dawning and The New Lion would be absolutely textbook.

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Trials Day is huge for Britain’s leading trainer Dan Skelton ahead of Cheltenham Festival battle with the Irish

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