Dan Skelton talks all things Racing Come Dancing

Ladbrokes ambassador and leading trainer Dan Skelton talks all things Racing Come Dancing ahead of Sunday night's performance.

Skelton will be taking to the dancefloor this weekend, all in the name of charity.

The leading trainer has spoken exclusively to the bookies about his training for Sunday night's 'Racing Come Dancing', who he thinks is the one to beat, and who he'd love to see take part next year...

I'm feeling really good ahead of Sunday; we've done loads of practice over the last few weeks, and we've had a great teacher, who has just been fabulous with us and is a fantastic human. We feel very lucky to have had Sue, and we've got our routine together now... It’s two minutes long, so it shouldn't be too painful for everyone to sit through for too long! Ultimately, it's all for a great cause, though, and we're really looking forward to the night itself. I've enjoyed it a lot more than I ever thought I would, anyway. 

I think we were the first couple to sign up to Racing Come Dancing; we just thought 'why not?' Our daughter is a massive fan of the actual show, and we thought we'd get involved to raise some money for a great charity. It's something different, so we wanted to give it a go. I have to say, at the time I agreed to do it, I wasn't as busy as I am now! So, I'm glad we're not starting now and performing around Christmas, let's put it that way. Now we're building into the main jumps season, we're getting busier and busier; I'm just glad I didn't have to learn it all last-minute, otherwise I'd have been in a spot of bother. 

We're probably only doing two or three hours a week now, but the bulk of the training was done as soon as we found out we were doing it, so around six weeks ago. We made sure that we got the routine in quickly, and then it's just been about perfecting it as best we can. We're a long way from perfect, but we've perfected it as best we can, and it's been great fun.

I came into this with no experience in dancing whatsoever... I should imagine I'll be OK for this one routine, and then I'll go back to being as terrible as I was before! You're not going to see me on wedding dancefloors all of a sudden after this weekend, that's for sure. 

Grace [Skelton] is a lot better at it all than me... that'll come as no surprise to anyone! She's very natural and hopefully will draw attention away from me performing badly! Fair play to her, I've got to say, for agreeing to take part straight away. She's a bit like me; we've just settled into it and got on with it. There's no nerves or anything like that. We're really excited about it. Our daughter is going to be there on the night, and as a fan of Strictly, she's been our biggest critic up to this point, telling us what we need to be doing and helping us choose outfits, and all of that type of thing. I have to say, all three of us have really enjoyed it. 

I've got to say, nothing is keeping me up at night as far as the performance is concerned... it's going to be really good fun. Everyone has embraced it, there'll be so many people there on the night, all raising money for a great charity. I'm sure there'll be some funny moments, but I'm sure everyone will appreciate how hard everyone has tried to learn a new skill. I think it's going to be a really good night. 

I've heard that Tom Malone has said he's an absolute certainty to win on the night. He's gone as far as to ask why the rest of us are bothering to turn up, because he's that good! I'm sure we'll all know our routines, and we'll all be good. Any better than good would be amazing. I haven't seen anyone's routines; I've seen some little snippets though and everyone looks like they're getting on well. So, it sounds like Tom Malone is the one to beat, and the rest of us will be battling it out for second!

I think I’m a long, long way off doing Strictly, I've got to say. What I will say is that I've enjoyed doing it a lot more than I thought I would. And, actually, once you start to pick up the steps, and you break it all down into small segments and into bitesize pieces so you can learn it, it actually is a lot easier than you might think... I'm not calling it easy at all, because it's not. But in some ways, it's been easier than I thought. At points I just thought I was never going to pick up the routine, but actually when you break it all down, you can pick it up a lot easier. That's been a bit of an eye-opener to me, but I still think we're a long way off the real thing!

In terms of who I'd like to see do this next year... I've got to say Paul Nicholls. I actually think he'd enjoy it a lot more than he thinks he would. Me and him are obviously pretty close, and we talk a lot. He might have said to me, albeit tongue-in-cheek, that he'd give it a go himself... so I'm going to call him out and say if it's happening next year, Paul's got to do it!

View the latest horse racing odds and specials.

All odds and markets are correct as of the date of publication.