The British fight back
Fortunes switch on day three with five of the seven races being won by the home side, headlined by a momentous double at the renamed “Skeltenham” Festival
THURSDAY heralded the traditional St Patrick’s Day celebrations at the track, but this was the day British trainers announced their return with two victories for Dan Skelton and one each for Paul Nicholls, Ben Pauling and Jeremy Scott, who celebrated a first-ever winner at the Festival.
Shortly after Paul Nicholls provided Sir Alex Ferguson with his first-ever Cheltenham Festival win (see box, opposite), the Dan Skelton-trained Protektorat soared to victory in the Grade One Ryanair Chase with Harry Skelton at the helm.
This followed the Skeltons’ success in the Turners Novices’ Chase with Grey Dawning, giving the brothers a fourth Festival winner of the week and a Grade One double on the day.
“This is a massive family thing; Grace and Bridget – my and Harry’s wives – support us,” said the trainer. “The work that the staff put in is phenomenal, not just in our yard, in the whole industry – we cannot celebrate them enough. We’ve got great horses, we’ve got the support of these horses and sometimes it just comes together.”
“THAT WAS MAGIC”
PROTEKTORAT won the 3m 1½f Betfair Chase at Haydock last season and the 3m 1f Many Clouds at Aintree in 2021, and was placed in subsequent Gold Cup attempts. But the halfmile-shorter Ryanair played to his strengths as he pulled clear of Henry de Bromhead’s title holder Envoi Allen (Rachael Blackmore) in second.
“The reason I didn’t run him over this trip until now is that we’ve been trying to win a Gold Cup,” said Dan Skelton. “It’s the one race the owners [Ged Mason, John and Lisa Hales and Sir Alex Ferguson] have not won, but it was obvious at the start of this season we needed to come down this route. That was magic.”
Jockey Harry Skelton was bullish about Grey Dawning’s chances coming in to the Festival, and Robert Kirkland’s son of Flemensfirth delivered for a first British Grade One success of the week, finishing two lengths clear of Ginny’s Destiny (Harry Cobden) with Djelo (Charlie Deutsch) in third for an all-British podium.
“Grey Dawning is so unassuming – he doesn’t know how good he is but, hopefully, he is a bit special,” said Harry Skelton. Dan stated: “We won a Grade One novice with Protektorat and others, but I’m bold enough to say this horse is at least as good and potentially could be better.”