Dan Skelton Saturday runners blog: 'Plenty of rain would be a big positive for him'

Dan Skelton, in his latest exclusive blog with Ladbrokes, previews his two rides at Kelso, four rides at Bangor and six rides at Newbury on Saturday, March 22.

Sacre Coeur has been great for us for the past two years, and she goes into a listed mares’ hurdle here. She’s normally known for chasing, but she should be competitive in this. It’s a hot race, though, so I’m not saying any more than ‘competitive’ for now. Hopefully she’s got a squeak.

We’re running Harry Bright in quite a good novices’ hurdle. He looked better over hurdles first time up last time and I think that the more he does, the better he’ll get.

He’s clearly a horse for next year; we’ve gone hurdling late in the season, and he doesn’t have the experience of all the others in this field. I think the experience will stand him in good stead for next year. If he can pick up some prize money, that would be great, but we’re not going there with unnecessary expectations on his shoulders.

Harry [Skelton] is going to Newbury, and he’ll be on Beau Quali in the first, a novices’ handicap hurdle. He’s got some nice form – he was second on Boxing Day at Kempton. A reproduction of that would see him go very close here. He then had a fall when I thought he was going to win before being second-last last time out, so his form is pretty consistent. This is obviously a step up in trip, which I don’t think will be a negative at all. It’s competitive, but hopefully he can go well.

We’ve got a couple in the handicap chase. Harry rides Riskintheground, who I thought the handicapper’s got a bit of a hold of, but the ground is starting to come right for him. He had a very productive summer and autumn last year, and he should be able to find a winning mark again in the springtime. Whether it’s here in this competitive race would be a big shout, but we’ve got to get on when the ground turns and the ground has turned.

Also running is Real Stone, who the handicapper does have too high, but in fairness to him he won a race where he got away from the field at Wetherby, so what was the handicapper supposed to do? He ran nicely next time out at Kelso, but others have just got more progression in them surely. Having said that, he’s been consistent and he’ll like the ground, so hopefully he can run nicely.

In the novices’ hurdle we’ve got Rene’s Walk, who’s run in some bumpers this year. She’s in good form, but she just doesn’t have the experience over hurdles against these horses in here, so we’ve got to be respectful of that. I think she’s a hurdler for next autumn but it would be nice to get a run over hurdles under her belt before she goes out for her summer break. We weren’t achieving what we wanted to with bumpers, so it’s time to go jumping with her.

Kadastral is a good bumper horse running in the valuable sales race. He was second on his only run for us at Kempton, and he’s improved for that. He’s a five-year-old in here against a lot of four-year-olds, and I think the five-year-olds have a bit of an advantage. It’s going to be competitive for the money, of course, but I expect him to go well.

Major Fortune is in the handicap chase, and though I think two miles is too short he did win over two miles at the start of the season. The ground, at least, is going to be nice here as they’ve had a bit of rain, so that should suit him. He looks well and did run well last time, but two miles is probably just going to be a bit too short for him for him. We need to get him out where the rain is, and hopefully there’s a bit of rain to come.

West To The Bridge is very consistent, and plenty of rain overnight would be a big positive to him.

We have Yhprum’s Law in a handicap hurdle, and I think he’ll appreciate this trip and will want some rain overnight as well. He looks like he’ll be more at home in handicaps than novices’, so hopefully he can be competitive.

Land Genie definitely needs plenty of rain overnight – if it doesn’t rain enough, I won’t be running him. He wants soft ground, or nearly soft ground. The trip would be good, and I think he’s very consistent as a three-miler and there’s more to be done with him, but he just has to have soft ground. Disappointed to get beat last time, but that was because the ground had dried out so much, so we’re just waiting for the rain really. Hopefully that arrives.

In the novices’ hurdle, we’ve got Thickthorn Tom, who hasn’t shown enough yet to win a novices’ hurdle but down the line is very much a chaser. Hopefully there’s plenty to come from him in the future.

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