FEATURE SKELTON FAMILY
FEATURE SKELTON FAMILY
Dan and Harry Skelton – brothers in arms
Their close bond extends not just to each other but to wider family too in a bid to seal their place as a powerhouse of Jump racing, as Graham Clark discovers
B uilding an unbreakable relationship between a trainer and a jockey is a task few ever truly manage to achieve. However, for brothers Dan and Harry Skelton it is the formation of such a bond that has seen them become a powerhouse of Jump racing. At the Cheltenham Festival, the pair will be looking to further cement their successful partnership by tasting more glory together across four days of top-class action at Jump racing’s Olympics. The Skelton team in 2023 is set to include Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup contender Protektorat, who will be bidding to improve on his third place in last year’s renewal of chasing’s Blue Riband contest. While an improvement in equine talent has played a large role in helping the siblings regularly challenge for top honours in recent seasons an equally important part of their success is down to the close-knit relationship the pair have away from the track. At the heart of that bond is their common interest in horses, which they have shared from an early age… HARRY ON DAN “We’ve always done everything together as I suppose two brothers do really and horses have been in our life almost from day one. “Our parents split up when I was around two years old and through
“Being family, you can push the boundaries a bit more, but we know we are saying things for the right reasons. At the end of the day, blood is thicker than water. “Bridget (Harry’s wife) is a massive part of the team. She is a good jockey in her own right. When she came to us and started working for Dan he wasn’t going to throw her up for the craic she had to prove it. She is in everyday and works hard. “Most of the time we would see each other in the morning for first and second lot then we would go off to our separate meetings which is good as we are not under each other’s feet all the time. “When I come back from my meeting I probably fry her brain talking about racing all night! However, it works really well.” DAN ON HARRY “We were very close when we were younger and we did everything together. Mum and dad got divorced when Harry was really young and I did everything I could to look after him. “We moved around quite a lot when we lived with my mum and we lived in many different places. “We used to go jumping the ponies together and we went to the same school for a short while as well. “When I was 18 I went and worked for Paul Nicholls and then Harry came and
that period of life Dan really looked out for me when we were younger. “We used to do everything together as soon as we came home from school and that is how it has always been. “A lot of people look in and think I wouldn’t be able to do that but is not like we have been apart then suddenly come to work together. “Dan went down to Paul (Nicholls) and then I went to Paul’s a few years later before Dan came back to set up here, so we have worked alongside each other for some time now. “We meet in the morning at 6.30am and go through all the horses and what they are doing for the day and how their routine is going to be for an hour. “Then after that, unless Dan is coming racing, I’m normally sat on the back of a horse until I go racing or he is in the car watching on the gallops and planning races and speaking to owners. That hour in the morning is a really important part of our day. “We try not to leave any stone unturned. Dad set it all up for us to have a go and they are the cards we were dealt. “We could have easily mucked it up as no matter what you are given in life you have got to work hard to make sure it works smoothly. “I can say anything to him and he can say anything to me and maybe a lot of relationships in racing people can’t really go over that line.
(L-R) Dan Skelton, Bridget Andrews, Harry Skelton and Nick Skelton
“Being family, you can push the boundaries a bit more, but we know we are saying things for the right reasons. At the end of the day, blood is thicker than water” Harry Skelton
“It was not like he was hanging on my coat tails because as he soon got his licence and he got on and did what he did. It just went hand in glove and that is how it was. “I think for a long time he probably did look up to me, but now I think the biggest difference in him over the last three or four years is his understanding of what I have to go through as a trainer and that has helped me dramatically. “He has always been aware of his surroundings and the necessity to do things right and go the extra mile. He knows where he can help but he knows the bits that he probably can’t help with by the nature of the game we are in.
“I know that he can take criticism and can take me being unhappy, but he knows that I can take it from him. He knows the way I say things whether it is something we are going to discuss again or whether that is the way it is going on. “The same with him riding, if he gets off and says we are never going to do that again the way he says it I will know if it is a discussion or a command and we have the ability to do it. “Harry came to work for Paul when I was assistant and Harry took my job as assistant to Paul very seriously. He would look around the horses at night with me and go and check around the yard last thing.
joined us a few years later. We have always done very similar things, but we have almost always been together. “I think the reason we have such a bond is that we have done everything together from such an early age. “It was very natural for us to do what we were doing and now it would be strange to think of it any other way I suppose. “Sometimes you can have an uncomfortable situation in the owner, trainer, and jockey triangle if two people are happy but one isn’t. “It is not awkward with us as me and Harry can talk our minds to each other and know we can get the situation right.
48 THE FESTIVAL PREVIEW MAGAZINE
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