Is Dan Skelton's ambitious new project going more easily than planned? The early signs this season suggest so

The jumps season proper is just around the corner and one championship race could be little more than a walkover this time around. 

Dan Skelton has picked up exactly where he left off and is already amassing a sizable lead thanks to the fact that, unlike on the Flat, the new jumps season begins immediately after the last one. 

Yet the through line of this campaign is less likely to be about the championship and more about an ambitious new goal Skelton outlined in April – his quest to beat Martin Pipe's British record for 243 winners in a season.