A mammoth moment in the sky-scraping rise of Dan Skelton as The New Lion bids to roar on JP McManus's 75th birthday

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Finally. Three-hundred-and-sixty-one days after Wodhooh won the Martin Pipe we return to the same sacred place clinging on to the same solemn wishes, yet the vibe feels different this year, doesn't it? Is this the dawning of a new era? The new Great Britain? The New Lion? 

Hope and expectation have flipflopped, all of a sudden. England expects. 

Not since 2015 have the hosts had more winners than Ireland at the Cheltenham Festival, and there have been some almighty poundings in the intervening decade, but the tide is turning. In fact, at one stage last week there was a British-trained favourite in all of the seven races on the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival. Imagine that. 

Sense has since prevailed, but it certainly looks like a more solid defensive unit this year and there is no way in hell they'll be letting in 23 goals like they did in 2021.

The main reason for that is Dan Skelton. After nailing the November meeting back in 2021 thanks to West Cork in the Greatwood and Nube Negra in the Shloer, I put it to him that he was exactly where he wanted to be. Winning big weekend races on ITV. Rookie mistake. 

"Has Willie Mullins got more good horses than me?" he asked. "Yes," I replied. "Well, then, I'm not where I want to be."

Skelton is still not there, but he's getting closer. Fast-forward five years and he has found a genuine Champion Hurdle contender to complement a stunning season that sees him on course to smash all records in the trainers' championship. 

It feels like a mammoth moment in the sky-scraping rise of Skelton. Winners of the Turners have a decent record in the following year's Champion Hurdle – Istabraq, Hardy Eustace and Faugheen have made sure of that – and the way The New Lion skipped over the last and sprinted by The Yellow Clay and Final Demand last year suggested he was more than capable of following in those famous footsteps. It looked rock-solid form at the time. You could surely rely on it. Maybe not. It's looking a bit watery now.

The New Lion took a tumble in the Fighting Fifth when he was maybe or maybe not in command. You can be the judge of that. I would rather argue the former rather than the latter. He was given oceans of time to recover from that and didn't appear again until the International Hurdle in January, when Harry Skelton treated him like a kid starting school. He packed his bag, made his lunch, drove him to the gate, collected him and then did his homework. He held his hand every step of the way. 

That won't work here. There will be no mollycoddling. 

The New Lion: fell in the Fighting FifthCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"We just needed to get a clear round into him after Newcastle," Skelton said of that confidence booster in January. "Harry did exactly what he wanted him to do and held him into the bottom of his hurdles. He was much more respectful of them. Harry was wrestling him to get him into the bottom of them."

Do that and Lossiemouth will be gone with.

Skelton said of The New Lion's preparation: "His work has been good in the build-up to the Champion and he got the all-important clear round in the International last time, quickening up really well. I don’t see that we have anything lacking and now it’s just a case of whether all his components are enough to win a Champion Hurdle. I feel they are. Harry and I couldn’t be happier, but we have to give three good mares 7lb and we have a lot of respect for any horse good enough to be in a Champion Hurdle."

One of those mares is Lossiemouth. You didn't think Willie Mullins was going to let Skelton have it all his own way and win a Champion Hurdle without something from Closutton annoying him. The final day of last season at Sandown told you that. 

You get nothing handed to you by that man and, so, about three years later than it should have been, Lossiemouth finally gets the chance to show us what she is made of. Up until now we have been guessing. This will tell us the definitive truth. About time. 

Lossiemouth stretches out at Cheltenham on MondayCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Those who know her best seem to think State Man would leave her standing in a sprint over two miles, but there are some shrewd judges who don't know her quite as well who feel she has all the necessary attributes to win a Champion Hurdle. She's unbeaten at Cheltenham and she comes alive in the spring. 

The exact opposite could be said of Brighterdaysahead. She has bombed out on both her trips to the Cotswolds at 5-6 and 5-2, and the three best performances of her life have come in December, November and the first day of February. She has serious questions to answer but Gordon Elliott has always said there is no question she doesn't know the answer to. Reading between the lines, she's the best he's ever had – and he's had more than a few good ones. 

If you were told at the start of the season we would have no Constitution Hill, no State Man and no Sir Gino in the Champion Hurdle it would have sucked the life out of you. But the two mares and the new kid on the block have injected a new lease of life into the race. 

It feels like The New Lion's time. It feels like Skelton's time. And, on JP McManus's 75th birthday, too. The timing is perfect. 

Read more on day one of the Cheltenham Festival:

'We think he's a Grade 1 horse' - does another surprise await in a wide-open Champion Hurdle?  

The expert verdict on the Champion Hurdle: we asked some top judges what's going to happen in Tuesday's big race 

Inside the Nicky Henderson and Willie Mullins camps as Old Park Star and Mighty Park meet in a Supreme Novices' Hurdle clash to savour 

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