Dan Skelton previews his squad for Cheltenham Festival in latest blog
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In his latest blog with Ladbrokes, leading trainer Dan Skelton runs down his squad for Cheltenham Festival in March 2024.
Dan Skelton runs down his Cheltenham squad
Grey Dawning is in good form at home and I didn’t want to go to Sandown as I would have wanted it very, very soft. Obviously he will go to the festival pretty fresh. He had a good bit of racing in the first half of the season so he has plenty of experience under his belt. He is entered in both races but we are leaning towards the Brown Advisory over the Turners. We are just keeping our eye on the Turners because who knows what might happen. I am not committed at this point, but on balance we are going for three miles. He has shown he stays that trip nicely, Although I don’t have a fear of going back in trip which is why I even mentioned the Scilly Isles. We would want plenty of cut in the ground for it to be an option.
I think Let It Rain in the Champion Bumper is one who has been forgotten a little and is definitely running, she is in great form and I am very happy with her. She has obviously had a bit of a break since she won at Ascot over Christmas. We will come here and get weight off the boys.
Langer Dan is another one high up in the betting but I haven’t been happy at all with him over winter. The vet had a look at him and he’s actually had ulcers so we have treated him for that and he will head for the Coral Cup again. It proves that he is hard to train in the winter and hopefully he comes alive a bit later in the year. It is nice that we have a reason now to hang some moderate runs on.
Deafening Silence is most likely going for the Albert Bartlett. I think the track will be a bit tight on the Wednesday, but he is much more likely to go over three miles on the Friday.
