Warwickshire-based trainer Dan Skelton is bidding to win the first Trainers’ Championship title of his career this season, and he made a good start during the summer, picking up over £130,000 in prize money already.
Unlike the Jockeys’ Championship, the Jump Trainers’ title is determined by prize money and not the number of winners, so how Skelton and his rivals fare in the lucrative races later in the campaign is likely to dictate who lifts the trophy.
Thrilling finish to the Bet At https://t.co/lqX1U01hBl Handicap Hurdle!
She's So Lovely just holds on for the Dan Skelton team with Bridget Andrews in the saddle 👏@RacingTV @DSkeltonRacing @bridgeandrews pic.twitter.com/Dwe36PJlZ7
— Warwick Racecourse (@WarwickRaces) May 1, 2023
With ten winners in the early stages of the season, Skelton will be pleased with how well his horses are running at the summer racecourse. Many of his major stars will have their training upped back at home at this time of the year, with the view to having them ready for their seasonal reappearances in October or November.
Last season Skelton won three major races across the campaign. In November, he saddled Protektorat before the gelding had success in the Grade One Lancashire Chase at Haydock. Then at the Cheltenham Festival, Faivoir and Langer Dan won the County Handicap Hurdle and Coral Cup respectively.
A Good-Enough Stable to Challenge Big Two
Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson have dominated the Trainers’ Championship over the last couple of decades, but they now face strong competition from Skelton, as he now has quality and quantity in his stable.
Horse owners have been supporting Skelton since he gained his licence in 2013. He is also attracting new interest all the time, including from syndicates like Royale Racing Syndicate, they have three horses, one of which is with the Warwickshire-based trainer.
Syndicates are something most high profile trainers encourage, including Venetia Williams, one of the most successful in the sport today, and somebody Skelton will be looking to emulate many of her achievements. The Aramstone Stables trainer looks after a horse for RaceShare, which offer shares from as little as £35. They allow horse racing fans to experience what it is like to own a racehorse without large costs. With a share in a horse, owners receive regular communication from the horse’s trainer and they get the opportunity to win a percentage of the prize money that the horse wins.
It is this growing base of owners that is allowing Skelton to raise his target of winners each season. In the 2022/23 campaign, he had 133 winners, and he will be hoping to top that number in April.
Gold Cup and Grand National Likely to Be Main Targets
The Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National are the two biggest races on the National Hunt calendar in horse racing, and they will be the prizes Skelton will be hoping to win the most.
🏆 Galopin Des Champs wins the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup! 🏆
😁 @CheltenhamRaces redemption!#ITVRacing | #CheltenhamFestival | @WillieMullinsNH | @PTownend pic.twitter.com/89qqOTJjhE
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 17, 2023
Protektorat finished fifth in the Cheltenham Festival feature race in 2023. He led the race with two fences to go and was a little unlucky not to finish in a higher placing. Skelton’s chaser is likely to improve from that experience when he features in the Blue Riband event next year.
Skelton also had one runner in the Grand National last season. Le Milos ran in the world’s most famous steeplechase, finishing a respectable 10th of 40 runners in the contest which was won by Corach Rambler. The eight-year-old was ridden in the race by the trainer’s brother Harry Skelton.
The Lodge Hill trainer is likely to use the opening half of this season to determine which of his horses head to Cheltenham and Aintree in the latter stages of the campaign.
The first major meeting of the 2023/24 National Hunt season in the UK is the Open Meeting from Cheltenham in November.
Article written by Jason Thomas
