Dan Skelton believes that a first win in the Trainers’ Championship is ‘more probable’ than at any point last season when he finished second behind Willie Mullins.
The Cheltenham Festival has traditionally been a key component in the race to claim the title which is based on prizemoney won, however Mullins appears to have less of a stranglehold on the Prestbury Park meeting at this stage.
With Skelton having already chalked up £3.25million, and Mullins having picked up less than £300,000, the Warwickshire-based handler told At The Races that he is feeling confident ahead of the run-in.
He explained: “I feel a lot more comfortable with it than I did at any other point in the year but that's probably the nature of it; the further you get into the year, the more you know what your lead is and that type of thing, so I feel like this year it's more probable than at any point.
“Last year people were congratulating me after Cheltenham and I was like ‘no, no, no, no, no - this is a long way from over.’
“I never believed at any point last year, but the reality is we are currently £450,000 off his overall total last year right now.
“I won't say it's done, because it's definitely not - it never is with Willie - but we're in a really good position.”
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