WHO would have thought the outcome of a handicap chase at Uttoxeter in July 2018 could have such a profound impact on the current National Hunt season? And not on account of any collateral form lines, obviously, but because of a photo of the winner as he crossed the line.

When Virgilio came three and three-quarter lengths clear in the Listed Summer Cup, a delighted Harry Skelton threw his arms around his mount in a jubilant embrace.

An eagle-eyed photographer captured the precise moment the rider released the reins and went in for the victorious hug, with the click of a shutter suspending Skelton with his head bowed and arms outstretched.

That same pose has been one of the defining images of the current campaign as the jockey, who was crowned British champion for the 2020-21 season, has adopted the ‘aeroplane’ position as his signature celebration of big-race success.

And he could hardly have picked a better time to introduce a celebratory stance as he and his brother, trainer Dan Skelton, have had plenty to celebrate.

Prior to Christmas, the Skeltons’ trophy cabinet received notable additions thanks to a second Shloer Chase for Nube Negra, Protektorat’s Betfair Chase romp, the Coral Gold Cup triumph of Le Milos and a Becher Handicap Chase victory for Ashtown Lad.

The big wins kept coming on the other side of Christmas too. Midnight River claimed a big handicap at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day, before the progressive novices Galia Des Liteaux and Grey Dawning landed Grade 2 contests on the same afternoon that West Balboa continued her upward trajectory in the Lanzarote Hurdle.

Although the trainer may not have his own signature celebration just yet, there is no mistaking how much these victories have meant to the older of the Skelton brothers.

“They’ve all been brilliant in their own right,” says Dan Skelton as he reflects on the flurry of major successes.

“It’s the first time we’ve won many of those races, with the exception of the Schloer with Nube Negra, so that’s especially satisfying. You’ve always got those big races on the agenda but sometimes converting the goals isn’t easy.”

Skelton’s red-hot form through the winter months has not happened by happy accident. During the 2018-19 campaign he fielded a staggering 205 British winners, making him only the second trainer to saddle more than a double century in a season. The first was the game-changing Martin Pipe.

Despite joining such illustrious company, Skelton’s prize money earnings remained adrift of contemporaries like Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson. He knew he needed to focus on quality over quantity if he wanted to launch a serious title challenge.

Hailing distance

He talks down his prospects of catching Nicholls this time around, but with his new strategy bearing big results he is in second and within hailing distance of the leader as spring looms.

“I’m not sure about [catching Paul] this season,” he says. “He started phenomenally well and got a long way ahead. It will come down to the big spring meetings and perhaps one or two big races, a Grand National for instance, that can change the landscape very quickly.

“Being champion trainer is a long-term ambition, though, and it’s not something that keeps me up at night because I’ve not done it yet.”

Expanding on the approach that has underpinned his current form, he continues: “We took the view some years ago that we wanted to transition away from the bigger team of summer horses and concentrate more on the winter season, and try to up the quality.

“We’ve had less winners because we’ve given the youngsters more time and we’re not putting pressure on the bumper horses. We’re training them with longevity in mind rather than thinking today is the only day.

“That means they’re progressing through the season, which is very important if you’re going to have any chance at the big festivals in the spring. You’ve got to try and leave a bit in the tank.”

Sales arenas

Skelton has also altered his approach when it comes to sourcing raw materials at the sales and on the private market, arenas he describes as “highly competitive environments.”

“Some are better bred and some get a better start in life than others, but a good horse can come from anywhere,” he says. The diversity of backgrounds among Skelton’s leading performers attests to his broad buying horizons.

Ashtown Lad is an Irish point-to-point recruit, Midnight River was sourced as a store and Protektorat plucked from France, while Nube Negra took a more unconventional route having come off the flat in Spain.

While six-figure point-to-point purchases are very much in vogue, Skelton says he has always enjoyed the challenge of panning for gold at the store sales.

“One of the best ways of doing it is taking them from an unbroken store horse all the way through,” he says. “That’s the ultimate feather in your professional cap because you took the most raw ingredient and took it all the way.

“We’ve got away from a physical type that was clearly going to be a faster ground horse and started buying the bigger, heavier topped horses that are inevitably going to want slower ground. They’re going to want more time to mature and that’s where you have to get your owners on board and be a good manager and not let those horses run before they’re ready. Patience is a key ingredient to making any horse.”

Breeding

The Skeltons have also established their own breeding operation, Alne Park Stud, alongside the training facility. The stud is run by Dan’s wife, Grace, and has three resident stallions in Dink, sire of Nube Negra, Midnights Legacy and Ocovango, as well as around 30 broodmares.

While Alne Park is run as a separate commercial enterprise, rather than a feeder club for the racing string, Skelton hopes there will be knock-on benefits in the future.

“We’ve done well with our racemares over the years,” he says. “Starting with Roksana, Rene’s Girl and Maire Banrigh, and now Molly Ollys Wishes and Galia Des Liteaux. Those exceptional mares are the elite of the breed and hopefully they pass that onto the next generation.

“But if I lose those out of our system, it’s going to be very expensive, if not impossible, to get to their progeny in the future.

“By having the stud the owners are encouraged to retain the mare, have a foal and race the progeny. That should hopefully see the quality of the youngstock we’re getting to improve again.”

Just as Skelton will look anywhere to find the right horse, he keeps a similarly open mind when it comes to how and where his runners are campaigned, rather than only having eyes for four days in March.

He is under no illusion how significant Cheltenham is, but says the sport cannot afford, literally and figuratively, to allow the Festival’s profile to completely dominate the wider National Hunt narrative.

“Cheltenham is, of course, the ultimate and those four days are the most important four days in the calendar,” he says. “We all know that without being repeatedly reminded of it when we win a decent race.

“When you win the Betfair Chase with Protektorat, all that is to some people is a Gold Cup warm-up. That’s not an acceptable situation. That’s a prestigious race in its own right and needs its own recognition. Otherwise what’s going to happen is people are going to say ‘what’s the point in even supporting these races?’.

“And that’s owners, trainers and don’t forget sponsors. They pick up on all of this and some might start to wonder what the point of getting behind these races is, so you have to be careful with this over inflation of the festival.

“Cheltenham isn’t going to happen unless all the other meetings around it help get the horses in the best possible position to go there.”

Once into his stride, Skelton speaks freely on all manner of subjects. His words are sufficiently considered that it never strikes as though he is seeking to court controversy, although that hasn’t always stopped controversy courting him.

Phoney war

He sparked something of a phoney war in 2021 when, as part of a wider conversation on the Nick Luck Daily podcast, he suggested that Willie Mullins was “basically getting a freebie” in prep races building up to the Cheltenham Festival.

Mention of the “freebie” episode brings a wry chuckle before Skelton responds. “It was taken completely out of context, it was a headline,” he says. “Those who listened to all of what I said understood it fully.

“There was absolutely nothing disrespectful meant at all. Quite the opposite, actually. I’m full of admiration for the fact that not only does Willie Mullins have the best horses, he’s clearly got the best plan to get his horses to peak for those spring festivals. That’s very obvious for all to see.”

Skelton describes the incident as “highly frustrating” but accepts that a relationship with the media is “part of being a professional”. Moreover, he is clearly prepared to put his responsibility to promote the sport in the press ahead of any self-interest.

“When a cheap headline is made out of an innocent comment, it causes you some personal discomfort and it’s highly frustrating,” he says. “But at the end of the day, members of the press have their job to do as well, I fully respect that and I know they don’t have an easy job either.

“I think all professionals do their best to provide content to all media outlets and inevitably sometimes it’s not going to come out how you hoped.”

Where Skelton takes a much firmer stance is on social media. His operation has over 41,000 followers on Twitter and has published all manner of content showcasing how the team produces a high volume of winners.

However, the posts have sometimes generated the kind of unsavoury response that is all too common on the platform.

Social media

“At times social media is very kind and very thoughtful and supportive, but unfortunately a lot of the time it’s hateful and full of negativity,” says Skelton. “There are some very bad words published every day.

“Opinions on a ride, on a horse, whatever. They are words that the publisher would no doubt not use face-to-face.

“You have to be able to deal with it but to think that it’s easy and that it doesn’t affect you is not the real world.

“All trainers and jockeys will have had bad things said about them, really nasty, horrible things. I’m not on any social media personally because I didn’t like the dynamic. I didn’t like the fact that someone can hide behind a username and call me all these things and recommend all these horrible things happen to me, all because a horse got beat when it was odds on.

“You have to be professional about it and it happens to everybody, but that doesn’t mean we’ve got to accept it. It’s sad really.”

There is, of course, one surefire way to keep the haters quiet and that is continuing to clean up in major races. Indeed, it is not hard to imagine Harry’s signature celebration going viral all over again should the brothers combine for success at Cheltenham, just as it did when deployed aboard Ashtown Lad and Midnight River.

Reflecting on Harry’s ‘aeroplane’ celebration, his brother says, “It originated years ago when he won the Summer Cup on a horse called Virgilio. I think it was sort of an accident on Ashtown Lad but he got a positive response and people enjoyed it, so it was planned on Midnight River.

“It won’t be coming out all the time but I think it’s a cool thing. If it can have a slightly positive effect on the sport then what’s the problem?”

Time will tell whether we see an ‘aeroplane’ celebration at Cheltenham or not. But, either way, the Skeltons look set to continue flying high throughout the rest of 2023 and beyond. Dan Skelton on…

He’s an improved horse this year. He showed that at Haydock, as only an improved horse could do what he did. At home he’s absolutely wild! He’s strong and flamboyant and Izzy [Algieri], who rides him every day, does a great job on him because he’s not easy. Some horses just go about their business and sneak around and you’d barely notice them but he’s not like that. He stands out. I may have left him a bit short in the Cotswolds [finshed fourth behind Ahoy Senor]. He did not underperform because he’s a deteriorated horse. He underperformed because I didn’t have him fully fit.

I thought he would win and the thing you feel immediately afterwards is complete disappointment because that isn’t up to his Haydock form.

It’s a very deep Gold Cup all round. Obviously if Galopin Des Champs stays the trip he’s going to be the one we’ve all got to beat, but that trip around that track, it’s a tough race and you don’t win a Gold Cup by cruising around.

There comes a point where you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and our horse has matured into that type.

He ran well last year to finish third and he may have been second with a better jump at the last. I’m sure he’s better than last year and he’s still unexposed at the trip.

He definitely underperformed at Kempton, which is frustrating, but a few of ours were in and out at the time. I’m not taking anything away from the winner [Editeur Du Gite] because he flew around and looked very good. I know we didn’t run to our very best though.

We know he’s very good fresh off the back of a break and with decent ground under his feet. With a bit of luck we’ll get such conditions in the Champion Chase because last year we ended up with an absolute quagmire.

If we went to the Albert Bartlett with Grey Dawning I think he’d be a fair player in that.

We’ve definitely got some handicap chances and we’ll be entering the likes of Pembroke, who’s a good novice, and West Balboa, who won the Lanzarote. If we ended up getting a soft Friday then Galia Des Liteux could run in the mares’ chase and she looked very good the other day.

Midnight River obviously has a big chance in the Plate then there’s consistent handicappers like Langer Dan, Faivoir, Wilde About Oscar and Get A Tonic, horses who’ve run well in those races before and will run well again. Whether they’re good enough to win or whether there’s a bunch around them that are better handicapped we’ll find out on the day.

This article is taken from The Irish Field Cheltenham Magazine 2023, produced in partnership with Goffs.

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