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I know what you mean Troy. I accept any horse can fall but Harry Skelton keeps on getting beaten on horses he should win on. Dan Skelton is not going to be a top trainer until he hires a top jockey.
Well said cork, TYT, I’d forgotten he’s champion Jockey how the fudge did he manage that we must have some bad jockeys this side of the Irish sea.
Watching it again the greatest jockey in the world is watching Rachel jumping the last I wonder what was going through his mind.
With Champion jockey being decided on numbers, it is always possible for a non big race rider to win it when a novice hurdle at Worcester counts the same as the Gold Cup.
With the retirement of McCoy and now Johnson and with all the horse power now across the Irish Sea, it is inevitable there is going to be a decline in quality.
Skelton was the second consecutive mediocre to average jockey to win the title, after Hughes the year before. Both have had their limitations exposed in big races and neither are in the same league as their predecessors
I’ve been a bit critical of Harry in the past when he sometimes kicks too early in some races getting overexcited, but he didn’t yesterday and I thought on this occasion he was unlucky. The horse brushed the top and just didn’t get his landing gear out.
OK, he won on Third Time Lucki. But I still think he had him lit up plenty early enough. If he does that in better company he will not win.
The horse lit himself up. He had a higher cruising speed than the opposition. Not a lot he can do in those circumstances. Better race against better horses he can settle the horse better when they go a more even or high gallop.
But I still think he had him lit up plenty early enough.
The stable are known for forward going, attacking chasers. He had nothing to hold his graded horse up behind today, just a bunch of handicappers one of whom fell. Ruby Walsh seemed to think he kept hold of the horse’s head OK at the right moments too.
I didn’t use to like the Skeltons much as I thought they were too hard on their horses but I think that was just to get as many winners of any type as possible early on to establish the yard. They have secured a bit more quality now and make the most of what they have, even if they haven’t got the horses to beat Mullins and Henderson at the festival. I admire their close family team as well and think there is no chance of Dan dumping his brother, nor does he need to. They come across and nice hard working people and I’m warming to them which I didn’t think I would.
Horse ran a little bit out of steam today and will do so in a proper race. I mean 8-10 opponents or so….
Hmmmm,
We’ve been blessed with an exceptional generation of jockeys which included Ruby, AP, Richard J, Barry G, and Davy R. We were truly fortunate to watch racing in an age With such brilliant jockeys. At that time difficult for up and coming jockeys / conditionals to get many top rides. Of all the above only Davy Russell is still riding today but arguably not at his best and / or deliberately not having as many rides. Therefore, right now there is obviously lesser jockeys getting the top rides. Skelton, Hughes, Twiston Davies, Cobden, Frost AND those the other side of the channel Townend, Blackmore, O’Keeffe, Kenneddy etc… are all going to make more mistakes than exceptional jockeys do.Harry is imo not much worse than any jockey riding today and as good as or better than most. We should not under-estimate the part Harry has played in the success of brother Dan’s training. Reason why Harry is in those good positions in the first place is the horses good jumping. By “good” I mean efficient and efficient jumpers sometimes make errors – as do jockeys.
Jump racing has obstacles that sometimes get in the way. Harry Skelton is no AP McCoy or Ruby Walsh (neither is anyone else). May be we should just get over it.
Value Is EverythingUnexpected Party could have done with Harry Skelton. Should have won comfortably but was given too much to do. If I had backed the horse I would have been gutted at the late jockey change and so it proved.
Harry is still a work in progress , the problem is he,s in progress with a lot of nice young horses were ideally maybe a more experienced head would be a great help , Bridget is OK but maybe a battle hardened jockey would be more useful at this point o help with the teaching , saying that third time lucki is one of the best jumping novices I’ve seen in a while , is he good enough to win a arkle , I don’t know , is he good enough to jump others out of there comfort zone , absolutely
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Third Time lucki looked very tired crossing the line
Given a much harder race than necessary with Harry commiting a mile from home again
All he had to do was canter around then kick from the back of the last
Idling is a wide-spread excuse imo. They always “idle” at the end of the race, never in the early stages.
When he took it up at the top of the hill he was motoring down towards the 3rd last, but once he hit the rising ground he started to get tired. The very big leap at the final ditch surely cost some energy, no matter how excited Mr. Bartlett was about the jump.
I think it was okay that Skelton kept riding towards the line, but he is not G1 material at all.
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