Dan Skelton Friday runners blog: 'He's a strong travelling horse and he's got a good chance here'

Dan Skelton has eight runners at Cheltenham and Doncaster on Friday, December 12, 2025. The Ladbrokes ambassador previews them all in his latest blog.

• Minella Marathon & Delta Blues Belle - Cheltenham - 12.05 race odds

• Royal Infantry - Cheltenham - 12.40 race odds

• Fortune De Mer - Cheltenham - 1.15 race odds

• Le Milos - Cheltenham - 2.25 race odds

• Tranquil Sea - Cheltenham - 3.35 race odds

• Dream's Ka - Doncaster - 12.50 race odds

• Beau Quali - Doncaster - 3.08 race odds

CHELTENHAM

12.05 - Cheltenham - Minella Marathon & Delta Blues Belle

We run two in the novices' hurdle at Cheltenham; Harry [Skelton] is on Minella Marathon, who made a really bright start to his career with us when winning at Lingfield last time out. I don't see the track being a problem for him at all here - I'd say the trip is probably about as short as he'd want to go, but he certainly didn't look slow last month. He looked a nice horse and picked up well - I was really happy with what I saw of him at Lingfield. Obviously this represents a step up in grade, but we'll see how he takes it - we think he's a really nice horse.

We also run Delta Blues Belle in the race - she hasn't looked like she could win a weight-for-age race yet, but we've got to get some experience into her... I'd say she's one for handicaps further down the road.

12.40 - Cheltenham - Royal Infantry

We then run Royal Infantry in the novices' chase - he's had two good runs in highly competitive handicap hurdles this year, and we feel he's ready to go over fences now. To my mind, he's always been a chaser, but it's good to get some experience in big field handicaps... he's got that now, and he's ready to go. It's a really tight race, but he's jumped well at home and we'll see where we stand. 

We're asking plenty from him to go around Cheltenham for the first time, but there is a limited amount of chases he can run in. I'd have liked to have started off over two miles, but two-and-a-half isn't an issue, there just isn't anywhere else that jumps off the page for him right now, so we're going to start here. 

1.15 - Cheltenham - Fortune De Mer

Fortune De Mer runs in a handicap hurdle and he won at the track in October. He's a strong travelling horse. Everyone knows him well now, and he's got a good chance here. He ran well at Ascot, finishing second... so he's definitely got a chance. Let's see how we go; I'd like to creep up the handicap and end up in a County Hurdle and everybody knows that; we're not hiding that from anyone. He should go and be competitive again though. 

2.25 - Cheltenham - Le Milos

Le Milos runs in the veterans' chase over two-miles-four, and I wouldn't ever say that he's massively in love with Cheltenham, but this is a good trip for him on softer ground - it's perfect in that respect, he'll throw his hat in the ring and I'm sure he'll run nicely. I don't feel like the handicapper is hiding anything from him at all, so I do think he's got a bit to do to try and defy the handicapper. But he always runs his race, and he's had a couple of runs under his belt now, so fitness isn't an issue.

3.35 - Cheltenham - Tranquil Sea

Then we've got Tranquil Sea in the three-mile handicap hurdle, and he ran nicely last time, just getting beat up at Market Rasen. This longer galloping track will suit him I think; the more of a stamina test, the better, for him. I'm looking forward to getting him back out there.

DONCASTER

12.50 - Doncaster - Dream's Ka

We've got a couple of runners up at Doncaster, starting with Dream's Ka and this is the first run of his career. We've done loads of jumping with him, and we've got to see where we stand really. He's ready to get started and we'll see where we sit among the others. I don't go out there with huge expectations, and we don't want to pile expectations onto the horses - we'll let them tell us where they can go. But he's done plenty at home and we're ready to get started.

3.08 - Doncaster - Beau Quali

We also run Beau Quali in the handicap hurdle later on in the card. This is quite a valuable race, and he was second last time out at Southwell over the same trip, with Sean [O'Connor] riding him that day as well, so they know each other. Hopefully they can put up a similarly good run, but it's hard to say too much about his chances because he also doesn't hide too much from the handicapper.

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