Dan Skelton reached the summit he so dearly wanted to climb when landing a first Champion National Hunt trainers’ title in 2025/26 and there will be no doubts where he would like to end this season.
Skelton topped the table with a remarkable prize money total of £5,045,615 and 194 winners and has already saddled 89 scorers at this very early stage of season.
Of course, those victories have been achieved by more modest members of his team at Shelfield Green near Alcester but as the autumn rolls on the big guns will be emerging.
Hardly a Saturday went past last term without a big win for Team Skelton and Panic Attack lit the early fuse for the season ahead with remarkable back-to-back victories in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham and the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury.
Grey Dawning kept the pace rattling along with Grade 1 glory in the Betfair Chase at Haydock, and he is one of many stars, alongside emerging talent, being readied for the big occasions once more.
Dan kindly talked to Tony Elves of attheraces.com about the main hopes from his team as Team Skelton have Martin Pipe’s record on 243 winners in a season as one of their big targets this season.