Dan Skelton trying to avoid squeaky bum time as he bids to hold off chasing rivals at Aintree in battle for trainers' title

Going into three roaringly good days racing at Aintree, Dan Skelton has a colossal lead and is a 1-10 shot with William Hill to finally land his first British trainers' championship.

Paul Nicholls, Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins trail by £794,527, £865,484 and £1,363,527 respectively. It would take something simply monumental for any of them to overhaul Skelton, but this is Aintree, where Saturday's £1 million Randox Grand National certainly qualifies as monumental, and all three have chances in the race while Skelton is without a runner.

Just a year ago Skelton came into Aintree with a cushion of almost £700,000 over Mullins. He left the meeting more than £50,000 behind Ireland's perennial champion, who collected the Manifesto, Aintree Hurdle, Top Novices', Sefton and Grand National to gallop off with a first British title.

Willie Mullins is definitely not out of the British title race - as the strength of his Aintree battalion confirms

Logic might dictate it is Henderson who poses the biggest threat this time. His Arkle winner Jango Baie is favourite for day one's opening EBC Group Manifesto Novices' Chase, with £120,000 in prize-money, while stable stars Constitution Hill (later on the card) and Jonbon (Friday) are both odds-on for £250,000 races they have won before.

Throw in Lulamba, who is a best-priced 5-4 for Saturday's Turners Mersey Novices' Hurdle and, should all four win, Henderson would have taken more than £400,000 prior to the Grand National, in which his 22-1 shot Hyland is a legitimate contender and the seventh choice of punters. The 100-1 shot Chantry House is his only other guaranteed runner.

Nicholls has taken a different approach. Of his 17 entries over the three days, only Cheltenham victor Caldwell Potter, Ginny's Destiny and Stay Away Fay ran at Cheltenham.

The 14-time champion trainer may be lacking the real superstars of Henderson, but he has freshness on his side and a team of five to go to war with in the National, headed by Coral Gold Cup winner and 20-1 shot Kandoo Kid and former King George hero Bravemansgame.

Yet it is Mullins, at 12-1, who William Hill price as the most likely to repeat last year's miracle and overhaul Skelton, and he isn't turning up half-cocked. He combines the two approaches as he is mob-handed in the National, the implied probability of his six guaranteed runners is 24.81 per cent (which is a smidge bigger than 3-1), while he has 34 entries across the three days with big names such as Impaire Et Passe, Gaelic Warrior, Lossiemouth, Dancing City, El Fabiolo and Jimmy Du Seuil littering the teamsheet.

With £1m up for grabs in the National and prize-money down to tenth, Mullins likely needs the winner and others to hit the frame. But last year's victor I Am Maximus (10-1) is set to be joined by Meetingofthewaters (20-1), Minella Cocooner (25-1), Grangeclare West, Nick Rockett (both 33-1) and 80-1 shot Appreciate It.

Skelton may be relying on 'the others' in the National, but he hasn't been running Operation Counter-Mullins all season without planning for Aintree himself, and 28 entries across the three days could result in a little-and-often approach, with potential for heavy hitters such as the kept-fresh Grey Dawning, Protektorat and L'Eau Du Sud to weigh in with some big prize-money hauls of his own.

Skelton was talking from experience when he said before Cheltenham that it was hard to catch a moving target. He needs to keep moving, because if one of his rivals wins the National then, in the words of his most famous owner Sir Alex Ferguson, it will be squeaky bum time.

2024-25 trainers' championship
William Hill: 1-10 Dan Skelton, 12 Willie Mullins, 14 Nicky Henderson, 20 Paul Nicholls

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