Dan Skelton has nominated exciting juvenile Maestro Conti and prolific mare Panic Attack as his best chances of a winner at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.
Following impressive victories at Kempton and Cheltenham, Maestro Conti is one of Britain’s leading hopes for the JCB Triumph Hurdle on the final day of the showpiece meeting next month.
Panic Attack has enjoyed a fantastic season so far, completing a huge handicap double with wins in the Paddy Power Gold Cup and the Coral Gold Cup before dominating her rivals in a Listed event at Newbury last month – and while a possible tilt at the Ryanair Chase was mooted, she will instead line up as seemingly the best of the home team in the Mrs Paddy Power Mares’ Chase.
“The Triumph Hurdle is going be a good race but I wouldn’t swap my horse – I think he’s going to be one of our best chances of the week,” said Skelton.
“We haven’t seen enough of him to call him absolutely exceptional, but he has an exceptional ability in that he did two very different things – he went round Kempton on decent ground and showed lots of toe, and he went around Cheltenham over an extended two miles on soft ground and also won.
“He’s got course form and his training has been exceptional.”
Of Panic Attack, he added: “She’s in unbelievable form. I don’t know what’s happened this year, but she’s an absolute credit to herself, she loves racing and has got better as the year has gone by.
“Her form at home has been phenomenal, she looks great and whatever beats her will win. She is absolutely flying.”
Skelton is preparing his biggest ever team of “30 to 35” horses for the Festival, with Mydaddypaddy set to be the first sent into battle in the Skybet Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.
The five-year-old was at the top of ante-post lists for the traditional curtain-raiser at the start of the season and while an odds-on defeat in the Formby Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree dented his claims, Skelton feels he is no back number.
“He didn’t run at Cheltenham last year but he’s always looked high class and we’ve been delighted with how he’s transferred to hurdles this year,” the trainer continued.
“I could have done things differently in the lead up to the Formby and I think he’s a better horse than you saw there.
“I think the Supreme is a very strong race this year and I think the victor (at Aintree), Idaho Sun, is a massive player.
“I think our horse is coming into the sort of form we need him to be in and I think he’ll put up a career best, if that’s good enough we’ll find out.”
The following afternoon L’Eau Du Sud will throw his hat into the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase ring, with Skelton of the opinion he is better than his third place finish in the Tingle Creek suggests. Stablemate Thistle Ask will not be among his rivals, however.
Skelton said: “L’Eau Du Sud had a fantastic start to the year and I was blown away by the Shloer performance. However, one he was very ready, two he is brilliant fresh and three Jonbon obviously wasn’t cherry ready.
“We have to look at that through the correct lens, but then you can say the same for Sandown because that day he wasn’t fresh. We trained him quite hard for his first race and I felt he wasn’t quite at his best at Sandown.
“He went to Warwick for a racecourse gallop the other day and he looks really ripped. I’d say after another bit of work this week he’d be about spot-on.
“Thistle Ask definitely isn’t going, he’s going to go to Sandown for the Celebration Chase. He had a very hard race the other day against Jonbon.”
The trainer confirmed the “very high-class” Bossman Jack and will be joined by Soldier Reeves in the Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle, while Moneygarrow is considered an interesting outsider for the Albert Bartlett.
The pick of his handicappers appear to be Be Aware in the Grand Annual and Madara in the Plate, while at bigger odds positive mentions were given to both Kateira in the race formerly known as the Coral Cup and Tellherthename, who is poised for his first start since joining the Skelton team in the County Hurdle.
Of the latter, he said: “His work is as good as you can get a horse to work. I hope you get to see on the track what he has been doing at home, as it has been pretty impressive.”
