HARRY SKELTON: Weekend Debrief

We had a pretty unbelievable 48 hours last weekend, as Bridget and I welcomed our daughter to the world and on the track, Grey Dawning was the star of the show, with his win at Haydock capping a brilliant weekend, writes HARRY SKELTON.

HAYDOCK

SATURDAY

GREY DAWNING

What a performance. He did everything we wanted him to do, and everything we thought he would do. Conditions were perfect for him, he travelled and jumped round and put the race to bed very nicely after the last fence. I think the winning margin could have been anything, but I knew I had the race in the bag three out and going down to the last I wanted to make sure he had some company to keep him concentrating.

I’m not sure where he’ll go next, but he’ll have just one more run and then hopefully he’ll line up in the Gold Cup with a chance. He deserves to be there, he likes Cheltenham and I think he’ll stay three miles two furlongs. There’ll be bigger opposition to face, but he hasn’t faced them yet, so he hasn’t been beaten by them yet. If we can get him to the Festival in that sort of form, he’ll definitely have a chance.

KABRAL DU MATHAN

He won very well stepping up to two-and-a-half miles for the first time. A good jump three out put the race to bed and he hit the line strongly. He relaxed well in the race and the moment I asked him, he took off. The handicapper will have something to say after that, so he will have to step up next time, but he’s only five years old and is an improving horse. He’ll go for the Relkeel next, and hopefully he’s then got a date in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham. That’s where we’d like to end up, so we’ll try and go down that route and see if we’re good enough.

DOUBLE MEASURE

We didn’t go very quickly and he was a little keen towards the rear. When they go slow on the front end at Haydock, it can be hard to make up ground and I think he just lacked the pace and the gears, but he still galloped through the line. He’s got plenty to learn, but I think he was in quite good company here. We don’t want to lose his novice status too cheaply, so we’ll keep him to better races where I think he’ll learn more. Dan is quite keen to teach him properly. I see him as a stayer further down the line and he is a work in progress. Hopefully, one day he will turn out to be pretty smart.

MR HOPE STREET

He ran very well in the Graduation Chase, stepping up from his first run of the season at Carlisle. He gained some good experience here in what was a good little race. It was an encouraging performance, and it all looks to be coming together nicely for him. We’ll look for a nice handicap over two-and-a-half miles for him, and he’s one to keep an eye out for.

ACE OF SPADES

He ran really well in the three-mile handicap hurdle. He perhaps just lacked a gear off the home bend as I couldn’t quite hold the position I wanted to, but he then stayed on well from the back of the last. It was a good, solid run. It looks like he stays the three miles, and is going the right way, so there should be plenty more races to be won with him.

MAJOR FORTUNE

He was a little bit disappointing as I thought he’d see the race out a bit better. When push came to shove three out, it was clear that he wasn’t going to finish that strongly. We might just lower our sights now with him as we’ve tried him quite highly the last twice, and hopefully that can help him get his head back in front.

JOYEUX MACHIN

He was perhaps a shade disappointing. We might go over fences now with him and hopefully that will see him to better effect.

ASCOT

SATURDAY

CALICO

He was brilliant and Tristan [Durrell] gave him a fantastic ride. On a career-high mark and with the ground as soft as he would want, he toughed it out well. To win two £100,000 handicaps in a year is very hard to do, so credit to the horse – he’s in flying form. It’s been a great training performance by Dan to keep him in that kind of shape. What we do now, we don’t really know, but he’s been a star and we’ll enjoy this.