Grey Dawning remains unlikely to take up Gold Cup option

Dan Skelton insists Plan A with Grey Dawning is still to head to Kelso and Aintree rather than take on Galopin Des Champs at Cheltenham – but nothing is set in stone.

The trainer’s championship leader had high hopes for last year’s Turners Novices’ Chase winner this season, but in two runs thus far he has failed to add to his winning tally.

Following a disappointing effort in the King George, when his fate was sealed by an early mistake, Skelton initially ruled out a tilt at the Gold Cup, stating he would prefer to go to Kelso for the Premier Chase before heading to Aintree for the Bowl.

At the latest forfeit stage, however, Grey Dawning – who enjoyed a racecourse gallop in company with some high-profile stablemates at Huntingdon on Thursday – did appear among the remaining Gold Cup contenders.

“I was delighted with Grey Dawning, I thought he looked very balanced up the straight (at Huntingdon),” Skelton said at Warwick on Saturday.

“I know the Gold Cup could be a small field and I don’t want to be one of them which has added to that, but my intention at the moment isn’t to go, even though I’ve left him in.

“Plan A has always been to go to Kelso and Aintree with him, but we left him in just in case. Horses are coming out but Galopin Des Champs isn’t, he’s the horse to beat and he looks in the form of his life.

“I’m not saying we’re deliberately avoiding him but we’ve got a very productive spring to come and if we go to the Gold Cup, that is the only race he can run in – doing the others, he can run in two, get more experience and we’ll see if he is a Gold Cup horse for next year.

“His form to this point this year has been slightly below Gold Cup level, as a form judge can see. We’re realistic and the main thing is to do what is best for the horse, so we’ll just keep an eye on it all.”

Also in action at Huntingdon was Skelton’s big hope in the novice hurdling division, The New Lion, purchased by JP McManus since his last run.

“The New Lion looked amazing, his form keeps getting franked but it is going to, they’ve all met each other and he is just where I want him,” said Skelton.

“These horses are not going to fly up the straight in their gallops, we’re prepping them for their biggest day, but I’m really happy with how it is going with him.”