Dan Skelton’s refreshing attitude

I’ve always agreed with this, as a lad, an assistant and as an owner ( oh to be an owner where this is an option [emoji23][emoji23]) horses don’t get experience and earn money standing in their stables, i want to see them racing!


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Is this the same Dan Skelton who spent the last few years shamelessly plotting horses for up to 2 years for the big handicaps. Talk is cheap as they say!
 
Spot on Beef or Salmon. You don't win Festival handicaps without plotting them to get there 10lbs or more well in these days.

He's as full of **** as his old boss, who isn't adverse to doing the same himself.
 
A former client had a few experiences of racehorse ownership.
His first was with Arthur Moore.
Horse won bumper first time out so obviously the sky was the limit.
Horse won one hurdle and one chase. A Moore would target a race six months in the future and fine if the horse was good enough; this one was just a bit short.
He was placed fourteen times in his three years racing before sold on.
Few years later he had a filly with Joe Crowley, whose attitude was to race while the iron was hot.
Filly won three races in three weeks before handicapper got hold of her.
Which was the better experience ?
Different strokes.
As for being full of #### , manure if spread can help growth and do good; kept in a big pile it stinks !
 
edgt said:
As for being full of #### , manure if spread can help growth and do good; kept in a big pile it stinks !
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I like that Eddie! :lol:

I'd be in the slowly, slowly camp personally. And for what it's worth I have no problem with Skelton or anyone else handicapping horses. It's part of the game. The annoying bit is trying to claim to be whiter than white. Although I freely accept it's part of the bigger game to stay under the radar.
 
So, if we separate out what Skelton does with his handicappers - and all the trainers are at it - his approach to racing with his graded horses is refreshing. He’s happy to run these horses against all opposition. Let’s see what happens when one of his horses runs up a sequence
 
Rather than trainers being brave/shrewd, the issue really is in the number of graded races and how easy it is to plan around March by picking 3 races outside of top competition .

Tidy up the number of options and you get clashes.

I don't see Skelton as leading any revolution, rather he is the **** of the walk right now and has his first access to a series of useful horses.
 
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I like the change in focus because, rightly or wrongly, I did think the Skeltons were hard on their horses.
 
granger said:
Rather than trainers being brave/shrewd, the issue really is in the number of graded races and how easy it is to plan around March by picking 3 races outside of top competition .

Tidy up the number of options and you get clashes.

I don't see Skelton as leading any revolution, rather he is the **** of the walk right now and has his first access to a series of useful horses.
Click to expand...

Doesn't help that the fixture list is far from optimal. The Ascot Chase really needs to be moved forward a week (swapping with Newbury) which would improve the quality of that race massively.
 
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