Dan excited to view Nube Negra progress
DAN Skelton is relishing the prospect of a mouth-watering clash between stable star Nube Negra and last season’s leading novice Edwardstone in the Grade Two Shloer Chase on day three of The November Meeting at Cheltenham.
The eight-year-old took the notable scalps of two champion chasers in Put The Kettle On and Politologue when winning the race in some style 12 months ago, though Skelton opted against running his charge in the Betway Champion Chase at The Festival at the last minute due to rain on the big day.
The son of Dink then disappointed on his final start in the Grade One Celebration Chase at Sandown Park in April and he will face a graduating novice in Edwardstone who couldn’t have been much more impressive when winning the Grade One Sporting Life Arkle Novices’ Chase for Alan King in March.
However, Warwickshire trainer Skelton feels that there are mitigating circumstances around Nube Negra’s two poor runs at Sandown last term and he’s hoping that we will see a different proposition on Sunday.
Speaking at a stable visit organised by The Jockey Club, Skelton said: “There will be two very different mind sets between us and Alan King going into next week – one will want rain and one won’t! He can run on good to soft, especially when he’s fresh, but it’s very much the better ground, the better the horse with him.
“He’s worked as well as I’ve ever seen him to be honest. I think as he’s getting a bit older he’s drawing just a bit of stamina and he’s looking outstanding, so I couldn’t be happier. He’s irritatingly good fresh if that makes sense, as it’s hard to back up a good race in quick succession. You have to give him these extended breaks between races, but we’ll see how we get on at Cheltenham. We would love to win the race again and if it happens we will make a plan after that. If we get beaten we’d have to go hunting for a race but if he can win it will take the pressure off as he can’t have a bad year so to speak.
“Edwardstone is a mightily high-class opponent, albeit one who is stepping out of novice company for the first time, so we’ve got a task on our hands.
“It was a massive blow to miss out on the Champion Chase, but when the conditions went the way they did it wasn’t a blow at all. If I’d have run him he could still have been out there now, but it was a blow to get that rain and miss out – of course it was.
“There’s unfinished business for sure and we’d love to get a fair crack at the race again in suitable conditions, but that’s in the lap of the gods as you saw last year.”
Skelton will have a strong squad for the three-day November Meeting at Cheltenham,
which runs from November 11-13, with the feature race being the £160,000 Paddy Power Gold Cup Handicap Chase on Saturday November 12 over two and a half miles.
The Alcester yard has three runners for the contest at the time of writing, but Skelton’s main hope for the race is Midnight River, who is currently a 10-1 chance with Paddy Power. The seven year old returned to the racecourse with a facile 25-length success at Stratford last month and while his participation isn’t guaranteed, his trainer feels that there could well be plenty more to come yet from his charge.
Skelton said: “It would need to rain and rain and rain for this horse. I would certainly not be running him on anything other than good to soft, soft but we’ve always held this horse in high regard.
“I think that there’s a lot more to come from this horse and if it isn’t soft enough we’ll re-route to the December Gold Cup at Cheltenham. Ultimately I can see him stepping up to three miles in the spring but this is a good horse and it wouldn’t surprise me if he took a leap up to Grade Two level this season.”