Harry Skelton has been flying in the lead-up to Cheltenham.
And the champion jockey believes Gold Cup hope Protektorat can take him to even higher heights in the Friday’s Festival Blue Riband. Skelton and trainer brother Dan go to the Cotswolds aiming to make their mark at the big one. It’s been a magnificent campaign for the yard so far
Team Skelton have constantly hammered out big Saturday winners bringing out the pilot’s now-famous aeroplane celebration already at Cheltenham this term when scoring aboard Midnight River on New Year’s Day. The jockey explained that listening to podcasts from sports stars in rugby, cricket and tennis enforcing the need to enjoy the good times in a pressurised environments brought it out. Skelton said: “I had a listen to a few and, at the high end of sport, the pressures and expectations are there and you have to deliver. That comes with most sports, really. You can always be learning can’t you? And it’s important to learn off as many people as you can. It’s about making the right decisions at the right times. I feel as though that can relate to many other sports. I suppose as you get a bit older, you can take and deal with things a bit better. That comes with experience and you learn how to handle it better. It comes with age, too, I’d say.”
The success of the Skelton’s comes from their willingness to work hard to get the very best out of the obvious talent they possess. Realism also plays a big part in the story. If you are backing a Skelton horse this week, you know it’s going with a live chance as Dan said: “I’m not going to have a massive team and I only want to take horses who have a real chance of getting into the winner’s enclosure.
“One thing we’ve learned over the years is that it can be a great place and it can also be a very frustrating place. We’re going to just try and take the horses who are either suitable for it or deserve to take their chance at it or the ones that we really think have to go. It’s not going to be too much more complicated than that for us. We try not to take too many 100-1 chances if we can help it.”
Such an approach brings expectation as well as the excellent campaign building into the huge four days and Harry said: “We’ve had a great run. The horses have been in great form all through the year. We have a lot of horses from last year and we were just hoping they could make the step up a little and they have.
“It’s definitely nice when you get that and some nice big races as well. If you are doing well, people are expecting you to carry it on and that is what we have to keep doing. That’s what we have to keep doing. Keep trying to achieve to get to the top. When you start having more of those high-profile winners, people expect you to carry it on.
“We are there to win. You are not in there to take part. A lot of people have put their investment and time into this and you are there to win, especially these four biggest days in the calendar. When you taste a bit of success there, you certainly do want to have a bit more.”
Skelton’s select handicap team will join the likes of Queen Mother hope Nube Negra in the raiding party. But it’s Gold Cup challenger Protektorat who is their ace card. Brilliant winner of the Betfair Chase at Haydock, the eight-year-old didn’t live up to expectations in January’s Cotswolds Chase.
Skelton, though, says “it really would” be foolish to write Protektorat off after that and added: “He’s really good and has done loads of work since the Cotswolds Chase. Hopefully we haven’t left any stone unturned going into the Gold Cup. I feel as though he has a massive each-way chance and, if it rains, it will strengthen his chances even more.”
Harry Skelton is brand ambassador for BetBudget, the personal finance app for bettors. Download now at BetBudget.app.
Don't forget to visit Record Sport throughout the Cheltenham Festival where we will be running a LIVE blog for all four days of the meeting and keep your eyes peeled for our man Garry Owen's big tips and best bets, and all the latest news and results.
