Dan Skelton discusses recent success, plans for Ashtown Lad and Protektorat, and eyes trainers’ title

Ladbrokes ambassador Dan Skelton reflects on his amazing big Saturday successes and has the trainers’ title in his mind.

It has been a very exciting time for us and every win has been just as good as the last. I have never had a winner over the big fences, so winning the Becher Chase was special. It is a lot of fun to win over those big fences as you can imagine and we are just delighted to get that off our back.

Ashtown Lad jumped beautifully, he was a pleasure to watch. Harry clearly loved it with his unusual celebration passing the line and everyone got a real kick out of it. Like I said, those big fences are special. There are only five of these races over the year, and four of them are for professionals. They are hard to win!

In terms of the plan for Ashtown Lad, I think we will have an entry for the Grand National. However, the jury is still very much out as to whether he stays that full distance. That’s not negative thinking. It is a realistic approach to what is the hardest race of the year. We are really thinking hard about what’s the right thing to do. If you give a horse a hard race in a Grand National, you might never get him back again. We need to be absolutely sure that we are doing the right thing. What you also must remember is that 40 runners line up for that race and I can guarantee you now, not all those runners can stay the trip. Before they even start the race, a lot are unlikely to get the trip!

We are just trying to think outside the box and think sensibly. The plan is to give him a run over hurdles next and then go for the Coral Trophy at Kempton at the end of February. If he does something spectacular in a race like that, we will probably give the Grand National a shot. Otherwise, we would strongly consider the Topham.

Winning the Betfair Chase was another first for us. The season has gone better than we could have expected. The plan was always to take Protektorat there, but we took on a very short-priced favourite, a Gold Cup winner – A Plus Tard. He obviously underperformed and we took advantage of that. We had our horse at his very best and that’s how it ended for us.

I hold big hopes for the Gold Cup. I went into the Betfair Chase knowing he’s only ever really had two goes at this trip. He won the Many Clouds Chase and was third in the Gold Cup. He is young enough and entitled to improve because of that. I always felt like he was one that could improve and I am not convinced we have seen the best of him yet. I think there could be more to come.

Winning the Coral Trophy with Le Milos was a once in a lifetime race perhaps because it’s so hard to win. It is obviously a big target for a lot of people. Sometimes it is won by a classy Gold Cup horse, and sometimes it is won by a handicapper. We haven’t gone up to that graded level with him and you’re not going to see him there for a bit. We are going to work backwards from the Grand National specifically with him. To win that race is a big deal and our horse was great at Newbury, showing lots of heart.

✅ 03/12/22 – @BoyleSports Becher Chase at @AintreeRaces
✅ 26/11/22 – @Coral Gold Cup at @NewburyRacing
✅ 19/11/ 22 – @Betfair Chase at @haydockraces

👏👏 It's not been a bad few weeks for the @DSkeltonRacing! https://t.co/6TrOYSroKU pic.twitter.com/iH98hTs1lH

— Sporting Life Racing (@SportingLife) December 3, 2022

The trainers’ title is definitely something I’m going to look at, although anyone who knows me knows I’ve always thought about it! At the same time, you have to sprinkle plenty of reality on the situation. Everyone must stay in form and keep going forward. If we can manage that and get to the other side of Cheltenham, then there is a chance.

I am just doing everything I had planned; I’m not doing anything differently. Keep doing the things you are doing and if you do them well, then you get the rewards. It is at the back of my mind, it has always been something I’d love to achieve and I just think if we keep going down this road and the horses stay healthy, we are in with a bit of a shout.

Dan

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