‘We think he’s a Gold Cup horse’ – Dan Skelton’s four stars to follow this season

Dan Skelton managed to usurp his mentor Paul Nicholls and establish himself as the best British-based trainer last season. Only the all-conquering Willie Mullins came between him and the trainers’ title and Skelton will be looking to go one better this time around. Skelton nominated four horses in his recent Racing Post stable tour as the yard’s stars so they should be worth looking out for. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.

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Grey Dawning

This horse was a Grade 1 winner at the Cheltenham Festival last term and expectations are high once again.

Skelton said: ‘He had a great campaign last season, winning the Turners, where he had one of his several match-ups with Ginny’s Destiny. It was lovely to get that Grade 1 win under his belt and we’d like to think he’s a Gold Cup horse, but the track will tell us one way or another. Three miles holds no fears and he looks great. He’s exciting.’

Langer Dan

Two-time Cheltenham Festival winner Langer Dan developed into a legitimate Grade 1 performer last spring and top stayers races are on the agenda.

The trainer said: ‘He had a great year last year, winning a second Coral Cup, which was an amazing achievement, then stepping up into Graded company and just being touched off in the Aintree Hurdle. Those runs said we should go down the Grade 1 route this season, with the Long Walk high on the list after possibly the Long Distance Hurdle.’

Protektorat

Protektorat bounced back to form with a brilliant Ryanair Chase success in March and he’s going to be kept busy this season.

His trainer said: ‘He was brilliant last season, especially in the spring, when he won the Ryanair. We changed things up a bit with him after his first run last season, realising that the way we were training him wasn’t really working for him, so we ran him a bit more often, he was highly consistent and ended up landing the big one. We’ll approach this year the same way, starting off in the Paddy Power Gold Cup.’

The New Lion

A novice to look forward to, he looked smart when winning at Chepstow recently and could have a big future.

He said: ‘He’d worked well at home before looking very good on his hurdling debut at Chepstow last month, quickening up well in a very smart time. We’ll find him a normal novice next time with a view to stepping him up into the Challow, but there’s no pressure and we’ll just let him be as good as he can be. I think he’s really useful.’

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