Lack of rain giving Skelton grounds for concern in record bid

Champion trainer Dan Skelton fears his attempt to break Martin Pipe’s record of 243 winners in a season could be scuppered by the lack of rain in southern England.

Since securing his first title back in April, Skelton has set about chasing down Pipe’s marker, which many felt would stand forever.

A very fruitful summer has seen Skelton set a ferocious pace and he already has a century in his sights. However, with his summer horses now coming to the end of their season, he fears the ground is unlikely to be soft enough soon enough to enable him to get his winter horses on track.

“We’ve been conscious of trying to keep the show on the road all summer as we’re trying to beat Martin Pipe’s record, every single one counts and it’s been great fun, we’ve really enjoyed it,” said Skelton.

“We’ve plotted a graph out and we’re on track, but my concern is we’re not going to get enough rain throughout October so the fresh winter horses that are ready to come out, it worries me that they are only going to be on stand by.

“We’ve maintained through the whole of this we will only do what is right for the horse anyway, so if we have to wait, we will.”

Speaking to the Horserace Betting Levy Board, he added: “We’re not touching the sides with the Grade One horses as they don’t start until the middle of November, a few of the novices will be ready for the end of October because we need to get them some experience. I’m very relaxed about our winter team, they are in a good spot.

“We just need the rain, once we get it we can start thinking about it.”

Kevin Walsh, racing director of the Racecourse Association, said contingency plans are being drafted if the rain continues to stay away.

He said: “Racecourses aren’t naive, we can all see what sort of summer we’ve had.

“In terms of the RCA we’ve been in touch with the NTF (National Trainers Federation) and BHA (British Horseracing Authority) looking ahead to the next four to six weeks and the BHA are leading on that.

“There are a few contingencies, all-hurdle cards being one of them, that we are looking at, but nothing really concrete yet. We’ll see what sort of rain terms up in October, it could be a challenging month but there will be no rushing to decisions.

“There’s been more rain north than south, it would be nice to see more rain in the south in October.

“The key thing is we’re all communicating and if we can all creep through it and make sensible decisions, that is our job.”