Protektorat - Horse Profile & Next Race Odds

Dan Skelton (21 February 2025): "He only has one entry and is definitely going for the Ryanair, which he won last year. You won’t believe me when I tell you this, but this horse got a sort of an infection in his back leg last night, but you wouldn’t even believe there was a problem this morning. It shows you how tough the horse is, but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to show you him this morning and he would have to have an easy few days - but it shows you how tough he is. We are very lucky to have Protektorat - not only is his talent what it is but his resolution and his desire is absolutely top quality. I think that is what gives him his ability to run so well in these top races and to have the longevity that he has. He will obviously head back for the Ryanair, and I think he has a real chance. His early season this year - he had a lot of weight and needed the race in the Paddy Power more than I thought he would, and we got in a bit of a row in the Peterborough Chase going right-handed. We hoped it would be different, and we didn’t expect to work out the way it did but maybe we rode him wrong, and we maybe should have jumped out and gone on and then the right handedness may not have made such a difference. The end of his season was always going to be better than his start and he was sensational at Windsor and was in the best condition I have ever seen him in. He heads to the Ryanair a year older but is certainly no less a horse. Of course, there are new challengers with attacks from France and Ireland, but I wouldn’t say they won’t worry me, but he will run his best race. Last year he beat Envoi Allen who won all those Grade 1’s and danced all those dances and he went away and beat him four lengths in the end and there was nothing wrong with that performance. If there is any more to give, he will be giving it in three weeks’ time and he has never been this well and is incredible. It is a credit to himself and all those around to have him in this shape. We trained him differently at the backend of last year and this year and we have actually run him in rubber shoes. As a young horse he was very keen, and the back leg would come through and strike his elbow. We found shoeing him differently and training him differently helped that out and that is what helped us last spring to win the Ryanair and his longevity and different bits and pieces that we were doing with him definitely helped him."

Dan Skelton (10 October 2024): "He has obviously done brilliantly for us over the seasons and last year was his best year when he won the Ryanair. We aim to go back there in the spring and hopefully, there will be plenty to be picked up before then. We will start off in the Old Roan and then decide where to go after that, but he wants two and a half miles. We may go up to three miles at some point but for the moment we will stick to two and a half."

Dan Skelton (15 February 2024): "He will end up going for the Ryanair. He is not quite hitting the Gold Cup level markers so we will have a look at the Ryanair. He only ran last weekend and if we weren’t happy with him, we would wait for Aintree, but I do want to run him in the Ryanair. "

Dan Skelton (13 October 2023): "He obviously won last year’s Betfair Chase and that is where we are going to start this season. I am very happy with him, and I hope to have him in the same form as last year and if he is, he will be one of the big contenders. We can make entries for all those races, but the Betfair is number one target."

Dan Skelton (14 February 2023): "Protektorat goes for the Gold Cup, and I hold my hands up after the Cotswold Chase - I just didn’t have him as fit as I thought he would be. If we had gone into that race saying that was a prep run everybody would have said that was lovely prep run and he just blew up turning in and just stayed on to the line. That wasn’t the plan I hoped he would win and then come onto the Gold Cup but it’s not how it has worked out and I have explained in full detail why that run went like that. Based on last year when he finished third, he is a bigger and stronger horse this year and I think he has a real good chance. We saw at Haydock that when he is at his best, we can see just how good he is. We have knuckled down in the last couple of weeks since the Cotswold Chase and if he goes to the Gold Cup like he was at Haydock the run at Cheltenham can be put behind him. He is a confirmed stayer, and he has the experience of the track. Galopin Des Champs is a correct favourite, and he got the trip the last day - there is a question mark over whether he will get the three mile two at Cheltenham which Willie has answered positively, and I have no reason to doubt the trainer or the jockey for that matter. What I am getting at is that it is a very open Gold Cup, Galopin Des Champs aside. On our best Haydock form we are right up there. Drying conditions are a concern but the longer we go dry the more the chances it will rain and maybe it will all rain at once. He looks fantastic in his coat and his coat has pushed through completely. Protektorat looks absolutely magnificent and let’s hope he can go two places better."

Dan Skelton (06 October 2022): "He had a great year last year and finished third in the Gold Cup and maybe with a better jump at the last he would have finished second. Aintree was a run too many and we won’t ask that of him again. We will have him ready for the Betfair and I would say inevitably he would have to take on the Gold Cup winner again which is going to be a difficult task."

Dan Skelton (28 February 2022): "He looks fantastic, and he is another that we have purposely kept fresh. We have specifically prepped the likes of him Nube Negra, Too Friendly and West Cork for two weeks’ time. We made the decision in our own heads immediately after Aintree that we were going to wait for the Gold Cup, and we wanted to stay away from any potential negativity and the small percentage of a positive from running in a race this side of New Year before the Gold Cup. Running in bad ground or getting a cut far outweighed the positive of winning another race. The Festival winners I have had (Chti’Bello, Roksana, Mohaayed and Superb Story) only one has run in the same calendar year. It’s such big occasion coming that you have to have them ready, and you have to have them fresh. I don’t know how he compares to the current top Grade 1 Chasers as we haven’t taken them on - the horse that finished second at Aintree, Native River, has now retired but, with respect, he was a significant distance behind us at Aintree. I would say we were full of running and ready to go round again at Aintree but I don’t have any personal doubt about the trip in the Gold Cup, but you can never be sure until you’ve been there and done it. One Man and Florida Pearl would tell you that, but I don’t think that worries me - for me he stays all day. I took him to Warwick the other day and it took the fizz out of him. He loves to run and loves to jump, and I hope he does stay all day and that would give us every chance in a very open Gold Cup"