Dan Skelton came agonisingly close to being Britain’s champion jumps trainer last season, only to be denied by the relentless run of Willie Mullins. The Warwickshire-based handler has hit the ground running this season, and is undoubtedly the one to catch at the top of the training ranks for the 2024/2025 campaign.
Dan Skelton: Big Cheltenham Festival Successes
Skelton, formerly assistant trainer to Paul Nicholls, is the son of British Olympic gold medallist Nick Skelton and regularly combines with his brother Harry, former champion jockey, in the pursuit of winners. Here’s a look at Skelton’s 10 Cheltenham Festival winners to date.
Dan Skelton Winners: County Hurdle Love Affair
The County Handicap Hurdle is traditionally one of the most ferociously difficult races at The Festival to win, but it has given Skelton four successes since 2016, when Superb Story came home in front under Harry Skelton. Back-to-back wins then arrived via Mohaayed in 2018 under Bridget Andrews – then partner and now married to Harry Skelton – before the latter scored on Ch’tibello in 2019. Faivoir and Andrew made it four wins in an eight-year spell for the trainer with his 2023 victory.
Dan Skelton Winners: Breakthrough G1 Success
A first Grade 1 success in the Cotswolds came via Roksana in the Mares’ Hurdle in 2019, rather fortuitously it has to be said. It was then a race Willie Mullins had won nine times in the previous 10 years and he looked set for back-to-back wins with Benie Des Dieux, only for the odds-on favourite to come down at the final flight. Roksana and Harry Skelton were the main beneficiaries as they held off Stormy Ireland and Paul Townend to win.
Dan Skelton Winners: Legendary Langer Dan
The Coral Cup has been around since 1993 and no horse had ever managed a repeat success in the 2m5f handicap test until Langer Dan. He got up by the slenderest of margins in 2023 under Harry Skelton to prevail. A lacklustre four-race sequence over the winter months ensured he was back in the Cotswolds off the same mark of 141 in 2024 and he duly found his best to win back-to-back renewals. He signed off the season with a near miss in the Grade 1 Aintree Hurdle.
Dan Skelton Winners: The Spring of 2024
Though he ultimately missed out on the trainers’ championship in April, the spring of 2024 was a landmark time for Skelton and his string as he enjoyed a Cheltenham Festival with four winners. Langer Dan’s Coral Cup win was supplemented by Unexpected Party in the Grand Annual and a pair of Grade 1 wins via Grey Dawning in the Turners Novices’ Chase and Protektorat in the Ryanair Chase.
Protektorat was brilliantly produced by Harry Skelton to deny Envoi Allen in the intermediate Grade 1, while Grey Dawning fended off old foe Ginny’s Destiny after they duelled from the top of the hill in the Turners. It was a best-ever return for Skelton the trainer at a single Cheltenham Festival, taking his career tally into double figures and the Warwickshire-based handler will be hoping it sets a benchmark for his future endeavours.
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