Dan Skelton: 'We'd be letting these horses down if we trained how we used to'

It was a funny old festive season. There were times when it seemed that only the turkeys would have a good Christmas, with last-minute lockdown sparing thousands of them the indignities of sage and onion. But then along came the Skeltons.

While the rest of us huddled around a Pot Noodle for warmth, wondering how long it would take grandma to find the microphone button on Zoom, British jump racing's preeminent clan took the holiday by storm, illuminating our afternoons in front of the TV with flash after flash of equine lightning that certainly hadn't been forecast.

Shan Blue's Grade 1 win at Kempton and Nube Negra's 20-1 Grade 2 were underpinned by the exploits of Third Time Lucki, Molly Ollys Wishes and Cadzand, all of which reminded us that, amid the chaotic bulletins of impending doom, My Drogo had recently marked himself down as a hurdler of huge potential at Ascot and Allmankind had won the Henry VIII Novices' Chase to lay down an immense threat to Shishkin's predicted cakewalk in the Arkle.