Call me Dan Dare! Skelton is relishing the battle for the trainers’ championship after edging out Paul Nicholls… as he looks to deny his former boss a 15th title

Dan Skelton is relishing a battle for the trainers’ championship after a brilliant Cheltenham Festival which saw him edge his former boss Paul Nicholls out of pole position.

After winning the Sandown Imperial Cup on the eve of the Festival, Skelton reeled off four winners at Cheltenham: Protektorat (Ryanair Chase), Gray Dawning (Turners Novices’ Chase), Langer Dan (Coral Cup) and Unexpected Party (Trustatrader Plate Handicap Chase). ) — and secured a second place with L’Eau Du Sud in the County Hurdle.

Nicholls won the Pertemps Hurdle with Monmiral, but the results saw Skelton turn a £380,000 deficit into a £14,000 lead.

They swapped winners on Saturday – three for Skelton and two for Nicholls – with Skelton increasing his advantage in a battle which runs until April 27 by another £50,000.

On Saturday, Skelton said all his main Cheltenham players would turn out again at either the Aintree Grand National or the Scottish National at Ayr next month as he attempted to deny defending champion Nicholls a 15th title which would equal Martin Pipe’s record.

Skelton relishes battle for trainers’ championship after edging out Paul Nicholls

Skelton said: “It is a privilege to hold this position. I don’t think it’s intimidating. I know what Paul is like and that title will have to be earned if it’s going to happen – he won’t give it up.

“Every Royal Infantry horse bar (eighth at the Bumper Festival) will hopefully turn up at Aintree or Ayr or wherever is appropriate. We gave the horses a pretty easy start to the season and hoped it would work out positively for us.

“I wouldn’t say we were hoping what happened last week would happen because that would be too bold a comment, but we were hoping we would have a good spring.”

Neither Skelton nor Nicholls appear to have a runner in the Grand National itself.

That leaves a chance that Willie Mullins will also be in the mix after his great week with nine Festival wins, but he is expected to win the big race at Aintree.

Six times in this century, Skelton’s four victories would have been enough to make him the best trainer at the Festival, but Mullins shifted the scales. Suggestions that British coaches lack the competitive spirit needed to break Mullins’ dominance irritate Skelton.

On Saturday, Skelton said all his leading Cheltenham performers would feature again at either the Aintree Grand National or the Scottish National at Ayr next month.

He added: “I race British races and I’ve yet to meet someone who doesn’t want to win. There’s this whole Britain-Ireland thing, but last week we pointed out that it was everyone against Willie.

But another festival of Irish dominance yesterday prompted a grim admission from BHA chief executive Julie Harrington, who said: “Simply put, the rate of decline in showjumping racing in Britain is in the high of range exceeded the measures that were put in place to combat Irish domination. he. We need to do more, faster and in a more coordinated and decisive way if we are to restore British Jump Racing to the status where it belongs.

Skelton believes that moving forward requires working even more closely with the best-positioned participants to identify solutions.

He said: “I have a lot of respect for what the authorities are doing – it’s not an easy task with racing politics – but none of them can train horses as well as trainers or ride better than jockeys.

Paul Nicholls won the Pertemps Hurdle with Monmiral, part-owned by Sir Alex Ferguson

“I’m not talking about sending out a questionnaire but providing direct input. You’ll get the voices of people who are competing more and helping change the sport.

“If you had bi-annual reviews with the key players, we would be in a stronger position. This is indeed what happened in Ireland.

“The key players came together and asked how they could make a difference. They reduced the calendar and created their meetings to have a clear and concise idea of ​​where they were going.

Meanwhile, jockey Jordan Nailor scored his biggest victory yet on Nigel Twiston-Davies-trained Beauport in the Midlands Grand National at Uttoxeter. The 18-1 shot beat the Mullins-trained Mr Incredible by a length and three-quarters.