SKELTON A PONDERING, OP THEN PUNCHESTOWN, LONG SIGH & THE BLUE RIBAND FESTIVAL RACES.

The Skeltons, and that includes Harry and Dad, I suspect, are pondering on whether to go chasing with The New Lion next season or go down the Stayers Hurdle route. What I admire in Dan Skelton, besides his optimistic approach to life, is that he has no problem in saying 'I was wrong' or that one of his horses is not exactly what he expected them to be. He honestly thought The New Lion was a Champion Hurdle horse and when the form book told he was wrong, he accepts the fact and goes to plan b or c and always with a smile on his face. The new plan for The New Lion is a hurdle race at Aintree either over 2-mile 4 or perhaps even 3-miles somewhere else. 

The New Lion could be brilliant over fences, his class should assure that. Yet his hurdling technique would be a worry, even if he is surrounded by some of the best horseman in the business, including Nick Skelton who knows a thing or two about getting a horse to jump a clear round. With the Arkle at the Festival now nominated by all and sundry as the best lift-off point for future Gold Cup horses - with only Gallic Warrior and Kicking King as evidence for this theory - I would bet a pound to a penny that Dan will go down the 2-mile route with The New Lion, even though 2-miles is now deemed too short for him over hurdles.

Personally, I thought Kitzbuhl and Final Demand looked more likely horses for the Gold Cup trail than any of those that ran in this year's Arkle, and I include Lulamba in that estimation. When there was a debate on whether Constitution Hill should stay over hurdles or go chasing, the former was chosen as there was no point going chasing if they thought Constitution Hill would not stay the Gold Cup distance. So I suggest that if the Skeltons do not think their horse possesses  the stamina to win a Gold Cup, they should take the Stayers Hurdle option as it a race with a vacancy for a new superstar.

I like Ben Pauling but the criticism that is coming his way for not declaring the small procedure carried out on The Jukebox Man's epiglottis in the days leading up to the Cheltenham Festival is fully justified. It is no defence, as claimed by Matt Nicholls on Sunday, that should trainers be compelled to disclose every minor veterninary issue, even when they are no importance, as with The Jukebox Man. Yet the horse has a high-profile owner, someone who is thought of by many as a national treasure and The Jukebox Man was one of the favourites for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. This was not a handicap hurdle at Ffos Las on a Monday; it was one of this country's blue riband sporting events. Hopefully, come Punchestown, The Jukebox Man's next assigment, the star quality of the horse will be the talking point.

Since Saturday, when I was suddenly made aware that the flat turf season was upon us, with the Irish Lincoln and Aidan O'Brien's first runners of the new season, I cannot help but give out loud sighs whenever confronted in the Racing Post with a news item related to flat racing either in this country or in Dubai. At this point of the year, with the National Hunt season still in full flow, I am just not interested in flat racing. Not until, at least, the John Porter at Newbury and only then if Constitution Hill is one of the runners.

As someone who predicted that green shoots would be seen at the Festival this season, I should be bumptiously glad to having been proved right. If the Prestbury Cup were a three-sided contest, Britain, Ireland and Willie Mullins, the cup would have stayed home but as things stand, Ireland took home the trophies for all of the feature races, the Champion Hurdle, the 2-Mile Champion Chase, the Stayers Hurdle, the Ryanair and the Gold Cup. 13-victories was a good haul, with the Prestbury Cup up for grabs until the final race of the meeting, with a British-trained horse finishing second. But for those green shoots to grow into real achievements, British-trained horses need to be winning at least the same number of Blue Riband races as Irish trainers or Willie Mullins. I came out of the Festival with the weight of disappointment on my shoulders, with The Jukebox Man's defeat ash upon a heart sliced in two by the tragic death of Envoi Allen, sadly, my over-riding memory of the 2026 Cheltenham National Hunt Festival. I wish it were not so.