'You can see he's very good and big things await him'

The tight-knit family operation at Lodge Hill Farm signalled its growing strength by propelling Harry Skelton to a first jump jockeys’ crown last season and the man at the helm has title ambitions too with a squad brimming with more quality than ever before.

Dan Skelton took second place behind his mentor Paul Nicholls in the 2020-21 trainers’ championship, becoming the only British-based handler other than Nicholls or Nicky Henderson to occupy one of the top two spots in the past 13 years, and is looking to build on that by targeting more of the major prizes.

“There’s a different focus now. ‘Be represented in the best races’, that’s the key,” he says. “The quality is up, the owners understand where we’re going and they want to go in that direction as well.”