Dan Skelton on Grey Dawning, The New Lion and Maestro Conti's weekend runs

The grey, an impressive winner of the Betfair Chase at Haydock on his reappearance, could finish only third behind Spillane's Tower at the weekend.

But speaking on Monday's Nick Luck Daily Podcast the trainer said: "Before Grey Dawning’s race, because we knew the ground wasn’t perfectly in his favour, I kind of thought to myself if he gets beat, how am I going to feel? I didn’t know how I would react but driving away on Saturday evening I wasn’t too concerned.

“I thought he was moving into it very well, made the mistake two out, which isn’t the first time he’s made a mistake at that fence, and as I pointed out on the day the last time he made a mistake at that fence he went on to win at the Festival in the spring.

“We’re hoping lightning strikes twice and my feeling going into Saturday's race was we can’t win a Gold Cup on Trials Day but we can certainly lose one by having a hard race or whatever.

“That absolutely did not happen so while it’s not get any easier or harder to win a Gold Cup than it was ten minutes before that trial, we certainly didn’t leave a Gold Cup behind on Saturday."

And it's a similar situation with The New Lion who won a slowly-run Unibet Hurdle.

“Again I don’t think what I saw on Saturday means its any easier or harder to win a Champion Hurdle. What I do think is we’ve now had a great preparation for it," Skelton said.

“Obviously we needed the clear round first and foremost after falling at Newcastle but Newcastle told me a few things. I’ve reiterated in the press the positives it told me, whether I was believed or listened to a lot, I don’t know, but I think everyone can now see he’s not a slow horse. He quickened up well and was assured at all his jumps.

“Harry held him up into the bottom of all his jumps and he was very nimble and at the last he was very quick in front and showed the turn of foot that was necessary.

“It was a slow time but he’s had to show real speed from the back of two out like they all did and his hat is firmly in the ring.

“Now judges are going to be fancying one horse over another but you’re not going to get me not fancying my horse are you really?”

And Skelton is confident The New Lion will be able to cope with the move onto the Old Course in March which makes for a sharper test.

“There is more of an emphasis on speed but I think he’s answered the speed question for me. If you’re on onlooker or bettor and don’t feel like he has, then you have to back another horse.

“But for me I’m happy, bearing in mind I’ve never won a Champion Hurdle. So I’m just going on feel but I feel he’s a faster horse this year than ever before and I also feel Champion Hurdles are won by stamina.

“Of course you’ve got to be able to go a good, strong, championship two-mile speed but you’ve also got to see it out really well. I could pick out Champion Hurdlers over years gone by who came into the race with a similar doubt. But they get the job done and I feel like we can.”

One horse the handler felt he did learn something about at Cheltenham on Saturday was Maestro Conti.

An impressive winner on stable debut at Kempton on Boxing Day, he knuckled down well to reel-in One Horse Town and land the JCB Triumph Trial Juvenile Hurdle.

“What he did was answer a different set of questions on Saturday. On Boxing Day he answered he was fine on goodish ground and in a quicker-run race and on Saturday he showed he can go out on softer ground and really see out two miles one on on a stiffer track," he added.

“Those were the questions that hadn’t been answered. I never had any doubts about his quality or ability, but we were asking a different set of questions and to be fair to him, for a very young four-year-old to answer questions like that, was a real positive.

“If he’s good enough to win a Triumph we’ll see but that’s definitely where we’re going. He has course form now and all those ticks in the boxes and I think he’s a real contender.

“I’m never one to say that should be favourite or I think we’ll beat that one, but I do think he’s a real player.”

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