Dan Skelton blog: ‘You’d have to think they’ll be competitive again’
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In the latest Dan Skelton blog, the Ladbrokes ambassador and trainer exclusively discusses the chances of his runners at Ascot and Haydock
Dan Skelton blog
He is a nice horse in a very deep race which I shouldn’t have thought he would be winning on only his second ever start. But he ran well the first time out, finishing third. If he is still a novice next season it wouldn’t be the end of the world in my book. As a five-year-old a full season of novice hurdling would be ideal. But if he won this, he’ll have shown some pretty fancy form and then we could get excited.
This is quite a deep race as well. Again we are not expecting him to necessarily win coming into this as he has numbers to find with the principals. He did stay three miles last year and this race will give us an indication of where we go for the rest of the spring. He won very nicely the first day and whilst it may look like he hasn’t gone on from that he has had excuses on the ground. The nicer ground will probably be to his liking.
We have three in this and Harry rides Jay Jay Reilly. He won the Lanzarote Hurdle last time and is much happier over hurdles as we have seen. I think he will go very well again and hope he keeps improving.
He’s got quite a big weight and He’s had quite a difficult season. He had surgery in the summer last year and it’s been a bit stop-start. He’s been going nicely at home but I think he is going to need the run here. We will probably go chasing after this but he needs a good run under his belt so we can make some plans.
He won last time. This is a step up in grade but he’s in good form. Ben gets on well with him. They’ve won four races together and you’d have to think they’ll be competitive again.
We have two in this race with Harry on Shan Blue who steps up in trip after running really well before Christmas. I’ve been very happy with him at home. I think he will go very well here. He feels like he is coming back to somewhere like where he was. Some of these horses who are coming back from an injury can take a long time and I think he’s in that category.
He has no recent form and He has had a number of different issues which we have had to help him with. This will give us an idea of where we are at the moment. I recommend a watching brief because things haven’t gone well for him and whilst We have done as much work as we can with him I just think he’ll improve.
He is fourth highest on ratings and we expect him to finish there, but if he can pick up a bit more, then w”great! There is £10,000 on offer for fourth. He’s probably not going to run till Aintree so we thought he could have a day out.
She is in great form. I think three miles really suits her. I’d have to give her a chance here even though It’s quite competitive. There are a lot of runners but you can understand why three miles should be to her liking.
She carries forward a little bit of form here and I think she will improve again for her most recent run when she was a bit fresh and keen. I shouldn’t have run her on her first start for us. She wasn’t ready that day. We can put a line through that but I think she will run well here.
She has a lot to find here. It’s a very adventurous bit of placing but if she can pick up third she gets Black Type.
She also has numbers to find in the Rendlesham but she gets 7lb as a filly and she stays very well. The ground will be very testing and I think she will stay the trip well so she could pick up a bit more than her price might suggest.
I think this step up to three and a half miles will really suit him. He flew home over three miles the last day. He handles really bad ground like we saw at Aintree over Christmas and he’s got no weight. I’m looking forward to running him. He only ran three weeks ago so recent form and fitness are all there. I’d like to give him a fair chance in this.
He has plenty of weight here. I’d love to see him with a bit less weight as he tries three miles for the first time but he hasn’t got that so we’ll have to see.
I think he will stay the distance and he should like the ground. You’d have to give him a chance based on the fact he won very comfortably last time.
He is heading to the Grand National but he gets the chance to run in a novice hurdle because he has never run in one before. He has schooled nicely over them and he carries a big number on ratings coming into this. The others would have big futures ahead of them but he has been there and done it at quite a high level. I’m sure he’ll handle the ground and the trip isn’t a problem. You can see why he would have a chance
It’s quite a competitive hunter chase for the money as you’d expect. He ran really well the last day and The trip is ideal. He goes in bad ground and would have to have a squeak on that basis. There will be others shorter priced than him but we will be doing our best to beat them.
