Shakeyatailfeather helps keeps Skelton ahead in championship fight

Dan Skelton more or less maintained the status quo at the top of the National Hunt champion trainers’ table courtesy of Shakeyatailfeather’s success at Cheltenham on Thursday.

Skelton began the latest instalment of his enthralling battle with Willie Mullins with a lead of just over £30,000 on the defending champion, with his Cheltenham runners complemented by chances at Ffos Las later in the day.

Sainte Lucie, Mullins’ runner in the opening KTDA Fillies’ Juvenile Handicap Hurdle, was considered a real opportunity to bridge the gap and went off the 10-11 favourite under the trainer’s nephew, Danny.

She could not live up to the those odds, however, and was eventually fourth to earn only minor money, as Skelton’s runner, Our Lil, came home empty handed.

The Exertis-Samsung Racing Excellence Award Challenger Series Mares’ Chase Final looked to promise a decent sum to Skelton as he had the 9-4 favourite, Coco Mademoiselle, and Mullins was without a runner.

But an unseat three from home put paid to that and with Skelton also unrepresented in the Aston Martin Mares’ Novices’ Handicap Chase, it was another chance for Mullins to add to his tally as A Penny A Hundred was second and Judicieuse Allen was fifth.

Shakeyatailfeather (2-1 favourite) then answered the call for Skelton after his earlier misfortune, landing the Holland Cooper Mares’ Handicap Chase in good style to claim over £13,000.

Elsewhere on the card, though no longer in a position to throw his hat into the ring for the trainers’ title this season, Paul Nicholls still enjoyed a successful afternoon as Jubilee Alpha took the Listed Changing Young Lives At Jamie’s Farm Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle on the 14-time champion’s birthday.

At 4-1 and under Harry Cobden the six-year-old was able to put a disappointing Festival run behind her to score by a length and three-quarters, as Skelton and Mullins could only make up the minor places with their runners.

“It’s nice to have a birthday winner, the better ground and step up in trip suited her,” Nicholls told Racing TV.

“The fillies didn’t look right at Cheltenham, they look better now and they’ve gone a lot better.

“That was a fantastic ride, I was thinking she was too far back but Harry knows better than I do and he gave it a peach and she won very, very nicely.”