GIFT from POD
Harry’s stirring soundtrack
Harry Skelton has been flying in the lead-up to Cheltenham.
And the champion jockey believes Gold Cup hope Protektorat can take him to even greater heights in Friday’s Festival Blue Riband.
Skelton and brother turned trainer Dan go to the Cotswolds aiming to make their mark in the big one in what has been a magnificent campaign for the yard.
Team Skelton have constantly hammered out big Saturday winners, bringing out the pilot’s now famous aeroplane celebration already at Cheltenham when scoring aboard Midnight River on New Year’s Day.
The jockey revealed listening to podcasts from stars in rugby, cricket and tennis – hammering home the need to enjoy the good times in high-pressure environments – brought it out.
Harry said: “I had a listen to a few. At the high end of sport the pressures and expectations are there and you have to deliver. That comes with most sports, really.
“You can always be learning, can’t you? And it’s important to learn off as many people as you can.
“It’s about making the right decisions at the right times. I feel as though that can relate to many other sports.
“I suppose as you get a bit older, you can take and deal with things a bit better. That comes with experience and you learn how to handle it better. It comes with age too.”
The success of the Skeltons comes from their willingness to work hard to get the best out of the obvious talent they possess. Realism also playsays a big part in the story. Those backing a Skelton horse this week know it’s goinging with a live chance as Dan said:d: “I’m not going to have a massive team and I only want to take horses who have a real chance of getting into the winners’inners’ enclosure.
“One thing we’veve learned over the years is it can be a great place but it can also be a very frustrating strating place.
“We’re going to just try to take the horses who are either suitabletable for it, or deserve to take their chance at it, or the ones we really think have to go.
“It’s not going too be much more complicated thann that for us. We try not to take too many 100--1 chances if we can help it.”
Such an approachch brings expectation as well as the excellentnt campaign building into the huge four days.
And Harry said:: “We’ve had a great run. The horses have beeneen in great form all through the year. We have a lot of horses from last year andd we were
just hoping they could make the step up a little – they havehave. It’s definitely nice when you get that and some nice big races as well. “If you’re doing well, people are expecting you to carry it on and that is what we have to keep doing – keep trying to achieve to get to the top. When you start having more of those high-profile winners, people expect you to carry it on.
“We are there to win, you are not in there to take part. A lot of people have put their investment and time into this and you are there to win, especially these four biggest days in the calendar. When you taste a bit of success there, you want to have a bit more.” The Skeltons’ select handicap team will join, among others, Queen Mother hope Nube Negra in the raiding party. But it’s Gold Cup hope Protektorat who is their ace
card. A brilliant winner of the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November, the eight-year-old then didn’t live up to billing in the Cotswold Chase.
But the jockey says “it really would” be foolish towritetowrite him off. Harry added: “He’s really good and has done loads of work since the Cotswold Chase. Hopefully we haven’t left any stone unturned going into the Gold Cup.
“He has a massive each-way chance and if it rains, it will strengthen his chances even more.”