We may still be at the business end of the Flat season, with a month until British Champions Day and the Cheltenham Festival just a dot on the horizon, but in this corner of the Warwickshire countryside all thoughts are already firmly fixed on the jumps trainers\u2019 championship, and have been for some time.<\/p>\n
Dan Skelton is preparing his powerful troops for the months ahead and it does not take long to realise his narrow defeat to Willie Mullins on the final day of the season at Sandown has done nothing to diminish his desire to claim his first title. If anything, coming within touching distance of a prize he has coveted since he first took out his licence has made him even more determined to get the better of a rival who keeps raising the bar.<\/p>\n
After winning more than \u00a33.3 million in prize-money, Skelton was Britain’s leading trainer by some distance and in most years would have claimed the title. In the eyes of many, he had one hand on the trophy, only for Mullins to train four of the first five in the Grand National, which proved to be pivotal heading into a nail-biting final few weeks of the campaign.<\/p>\n
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