Skelton retains maximum faith in Protektorat’s Gold Cup challenge

Dan Skelton remains convinced his star staying chaser Protektorat will once again make his presence felt in next month’s Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The eight-year-old finished best of the British in the blue riband last season when third behind Henry de Bromhead’s pair of A Plus Tard and Minella Indo – and could hardly have been more impressive on his seasonal reappearance in Haydock’s Betfair Chase at Haydock.

But his Gold Cup credentials were dented on Cheltenham Trials Day in late January as he could finish only fourth as hot favourite for the Cotswold Chase, with Skelton subsequently blaming himself for leaving his charge short in the fitness department.

Bookmakers inevitably lengthened Protektorat’s Festival odds off the back of that defeat, with Betfair offering 16-1 – but speaking at a press morning at his yard on Tuesday, Skelton said anyone writing off his Gold Cup chances does so at their peril.

“I hold my hands up after Cheltenham – I didn’t have him as fit as thought he was,” he said.

“If we’d gone into that race with me saying ‘this is a prep run’, I think everyone would have come out and said it was a lovely prep run, he blew up turning in and stayed on from the back of the last.

“That wasn’t the plan. I thought and hoped he’d win and we’d go on to the Gold Cup, but that’s not how it’s worked out.

“He was third in the Gold Cup last year and is a bigger, stronger, better horse this year. I think you all saw at Haydock when he’s at his absolute best how good he can be.”

The Alcester handler is confident a leaner and meaner version of Protektorat will show up in the Cotswolds in four weeks’ time, with a racecourse gallop at Southwell pencilled in as a key part of preparation.

He added: “We’ve just got to knuckle down, and we have knuckled down in the couple of weeks since the Cotswold Chase, and get him like he was at Haydock.

“If he goes into the Gold Cup like he was at Haydock, I think you’ll find his run in the Cotswold Chase will be significantly behind him and I think he’s got a real good chance.

“Drying conditions are a concern, but the only thing is the longer it stays dry, the more certain it will rain! Maybe it will all rain at once.”

The hot favourite for the Gold Cup is the Willie Mullins-trained Galopin Des Champs, who proved his stamina over three miles in the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown earlier in the month.

But while Skelton respects the Irish challenger, he is not one to shirk a challenge.

He said: “Obviously Galopin Des Champs is the correct favourite. He got the trip the last day, (but) there is a small question mark over whether he’ll stay three-mile-two at Cheltenham, which Willie is convinced he’ll answer positive and I’m certainly in no place to doubt the horse or the trainer!

“But what I’m getting at is Galopin Des Champs aside, it’s a very, very open Gold Cup. Everyone has had a go at beating each other and there have been different results along the line.

“Our horse is a confirmed stayer and can get round the track and on our Haydock form, we’re right up there.

“He looks absolutely magnificent in his coat and hopefully he can go two places better than last year.”

Two days prior to Protektorat’s second bid for Gold Cup glory, his stablemate Nube Negra will have a second tilt at the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

The nine-year-old was beaten just half a length into second place by Put The Kettle On in the 2021 edition of the two-mile chasing championship, but was withdrawn from last season’s renewal on account of the rain-softened ground.

The Spanish-bred gelding made the most of a gilt-edged opportunity when landing Cheltenham’s Shloer Chase in November, though, and while he was no match for Editeur De Gite in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton over Christmas, Skelton is hopeful Nube Negra will show his true colours next month granted normal Cheltenham conditions.

He said: “The Champion Chase looks a very open race. Everyone has beaten each other and everyone has got reasons why they got beat.

“He won the Shloer, which he should have done at 1-10, and then I think he actually ran really well at Kempton on tacky ground, which is not perfect for him.

“I’m not making an excuse – we got beaten by a horse that was clearly superior that day (Editeur Du Gite) with those tactics and has gone on to frank the form significantly in the Clarence House.

“This horse is very effective when he’s very fresh, he’s effective at Cheltenham and the better the ground the better his chance.

“It’s a very unclear picture, but we’re very happy to have our hat in the ring and I think it’s a given we can have him better than he was at Christmas when the sun’s out and the ground’s better.

“We’re pretty positive. He was second in it before and we’d love to try and go one better.”