Sporting Life
Analysis and views

What I learned at Dan Skelton's stable tour from The New Lion to Grey Dawning

By Ben Linfoot
Horse Racing
Wed February 25, 2026 · 3h ago

Our Ben Linfoot visited Dan Skelton on Wednesday to see how strong his team will be for the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.

1. All bases covered with The New Lion

All business. Hands in pockets. Several clipped mics hanging off the gilet zip. Dan Skelton is rattling off quotable soundbites on each of his Cheltenham Festival contenders on a mild February morning at his yard near Alcester.

And there are many.

We’ll start with The New Lion in the Unibet Champion Hurdle, as he did.

You have to, don’t you? Last year he looked like he could turn into a serious Champion Hurdle contender and he has. The green and gold silks of owner JP McManus, with such a rich history in the race, could be ridden to victory in the day one feature once again.

It hasn’t been a smooth ride with the Fighting Fifth fall and then the unfortunate circumstances surrounding main rival Sir Gino on Festival Trials Day, but he’s primed and ready and it’s his versatility that Skelton feels could be his key asset come the big day.

Asked if he wished he’d had more of a pace to aim at in his prep race, Skelton said: “I don’t yearn to see all of these championship things before we get there.

“I don’t think we need to. It’s sport and there’s an element of the unknown and that’s what makes sport interesting.

“Let’s see how it bears out on the day. I think we have all the bits that we need to go and win a Champion Hurdle, but that’s coming from a man who has never won one. I’ve obviously never had a better chance.

“That race should surely turn into a staying race? Because it always does, right? They’ll go a strong gallop and you’ve got to stay really well.

“If they go super-fast, the non-believers in The New Lion might change their mind halfway round because they’re realising it is turning into a staying race. There’s all these things to play out, but I know he’s got the things we need to have for either eventuality. I think we’ll go very close.”

The New Lion on his way to Unibet Hurdle victory

He’s bullish, not over-confident. But there’s no doubt The New Lion is the team captain.

A giant picture of a black-eyed Harry Skelton coming back in atop The New Lion after last year’s win in the Turners Novices’ Hurdle looms over the yard. He’s the first one brought out and he dominates the discussion. And we’ve not even mentioned Constitution Hill yet.

Oh.

“Look, he went very fast round Southwell the other day. He (pointing at The New Lion) would’ve won round Southwell the other day, too.”

Skelton, as you would expect, is relishing the Champion Hurdle challenge.

Click here to read the full and comprehensive Stable Tour

2. Sud ‘Shloer ready’ for Champion Chase - but is it enough?

With Thistle Ask confirmed as definitely missing the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase to wait for Sandown (“we’ll stick to what our horse likes, I think he’d be in the car park”) L’Eau du Sud carries the Skelton hopes in the two-mile chasing highlight.

And while Skelton insists we should view his Shloer Chase romp through a clear lens (Jonbon wasn’t ready, L’Eau du Sud was very ready) he is hoping that sort of level of performance gives his eight-year-old a fighting chance against the might of Ireland.

“He’s a horse that’s very good fresh,” Skelton says. “The mistake I made last year was I shouldn’t have run at Warwick in the Kingmaker, I should’ve gone straight to the Arkle.

Harry Slekton celebrates L'eau Du Sud's Shloer win

“That’s not saying we would’ve won the Arkle, but we only had two-and-a-half lengths to make up that day and I’ve made sure we’ve not made that mistake this year.

“His work has been very good since Sandown. He went to Warwick for an away day the other day and it’s all systems go.

“We’ll give him a little bit more work this week. The New Lion, you can see, looked super tight, really ripped, I think with him (LDS) we can give him another bit of work this week and he will be spot on then.

“He will be Shloer ready and whether that’s good enough or not we will see.”

Ready, but realistic. You can be confident L’Eau du Sud will run to his best, but if the Dublin Racing Festival Majborough turns up at Cheltenham, perhaps this one will be playing for place money.

3. Skelton talks himself into Kabral Stayers’ assignment

“Yes, we are going to run,” Skelton announces, with a caveat: “As long as the ground is not brutal.”

Kabral Du Mathan is going for the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle, as long as the ground isn’t too testing.

Earlier in the season, it didn’t like this would be the case. He has shown gears over intermediate trips and that immediately makes you think Aintree. Skelton said so himself on numerous occasions.

So why the change of plan?

He said: “I’m trying to ensure longevity. I’m not afraid to pitch this horse into battle. But I don’t want to do something I’d regret a year, two, three down the line and give him a hard race he didn’t need at that age.

“I’m happy stepping up to three miles, as we all believe three miles is what’s going to suit him.

“But what we don’t want to do is go there on bad ground and give him an unnecessarily hard race.

“I think he comes into this from a totally different angle. Here is a horse that will undoubtedly be played late and used for speed.

“I hope it makes for good viewing, I hope we come out on top, and I hope that with the speed angle we have a potential asset that maybe the others have less of as they’ve gotten older.

“He’s quite a light-framed horse. To me, he looks a distance horse. If he stays three miles I think it will be hard to resist him.

“He is really up there. He has such class that you’d hope he can get any trip. He’s that type of horse. It does depend upon him settling, of course it does, but he has phenomenal class. Let’s hope it’s enough.”

We’ve seen the speed angle against the proven stayers come unstuck before. But this ex-Paul Nicholls-trained six-year-old has an X Factor about him and that makes him a fascinating contender against the likes of Teahupoo, Bob Olinger, Honesty Policy and the Cleeve Hurdle crew.

4. Will we see a new Dawning in the Gold Cup?

Completing the Skelton championship challenge – and you’ll have noticed from my chronological arrangement that he has a contender in each of the Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase, Stayers’ Hurdle and Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup – is Grey Dawning.

Skelton says this is the culmination of a two-year plan, that he’s in the prime of his life, that his Cotswold Chase mistake could be a blessing in disguise, but there are still nagging questions hanging over Grey Dawning’s Gold Cup challenge.

Can he win a Gold Cup ridden cold? Can he come from behind and outspeed these Gold Cup horses? Does he have it in him to showcase a different skillset? Is he good enough?

“He is in the form of his life,” Skelton says. “You will never see him better. It’s going to be a hard race to come from too far back in. There’s going to be half a dozen or more turning in. And if you’re behind the half dozen, it’s going to be hard then if you are in them.

Grey Dawning is Skelton's big Gold Cup hope

“You can’t let the front runners off. The front runners are too good, you can’t let them off, you have to go with them.

“Of course he has to display a different skillset. He has to display everything he’s got and probably more. But he’s in the best shape of his life to do that. I’d imagine we’ll be in the second rank down the inner, he goes a bit left, that’s what we have to do.”

I totally believe that Grey Dawning will benefit from not having a hard race in the Cotswold Chase in part due to the mistake two out at Cheltenham. Whether he can get into such a deep renewal buried down the inside against such strong stayers remains to be seen.

5. Best of the rest from deep squad

Confidence is flowing out of Skelton and when he says he is taking 30-odd horses to the Festival with a chance and a new ‘best-ever’ team you have to think he can beat last year’s tally of one winner.

He makes a point of telling us he has four favourites in the handicaps. Be Aware is Grand Annual favourite. Madara is the Plate favourite. Supremely West is the Pertemps favourite. A Pai De Nom is the Martin Pipe favourite.

He then says: “Kateira is going for the Langer Dan Cup – that’s what I think they should call it by the way!

“She’s definitely got a chance. It was a nice run the other day at Ascot. Bit of sun in the air, into a handicap, 11 stone not 12, it’s all just slightly coming together.

“The County Hurdle. Tellherthename will be having his first run for us. His work is as good as you can get a horse to work. I can assure you under there is a very good horse. He’ll be ready.

“Sinnatra also runs. The least it’s going to do is educate him. I think off that mark it’s not beyond him. We might just be dealing with a child in a grown-ups race. But there would be no better race to put it altogether than the County Hurdle.

“Maestro Conti (in the JCB Triumph Hurdle) is one of our best chances of the week. Panic Attack, in the Mares’ Chase, is the other one. Her form at home has been phenomenal. Whatever beats her will win, she’s absolutely flying.”

You check the top trainer betting at the Festival and Skelton is 12/1. Willie Mullins is 1/7. Skelton will get there one day, you leave this place in no doubt, but having a golden shot in each of the championship races in the same week for the first time looks another vital next step in his career.

Related Articles

More from Sporting Life

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.