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“We have a lot of the family involved as my wife Grace is running Alne Park Stud where we are hopefully producing some of the next generation of stars we are going to race. We have all got our eyes focussed forward. “It was great our first Cheltenham Festival winner (with Superb Story in the 2016 County Hill) and it felt like it had all come together. The second you do that it just feels like a relief. “Because we are trying to achieve and aim right at the top, the feelings that you experience is one of relief rather than ecstasy. “Your immediate feeling is ecstasy and you should be able to dwell on that for longer but that is not how the human brain works which is a shame. “I’m concentrating more nowadays on enjoying the good stuff and taking it all in as you have seen with some of the celebrations we have had on the track. “That first Festival winner it was a case of thank God for that, but at the same time it was brilliant.”
not going to change my mind about it. “I’ve finished second to Paul before and we might finish second to Paul again this season, we might somehow get the better of him, but in all honesty I don’t think we will. “To be champion trainer is an accolade over the season and it reflects on the team you have around you, not just the team in staff, but the team of horses, owners and support staff. “Harry’s wife, Bridget Andrews, is an important part of the team. She goes off to those second meetings and rides lots of nice horses and has had some big winners. “However, she is not the headline act and that can be hard a position to be in, but she is selfless and she works hard. She is in the yard every day and she is all for the team. “We are very proud and lucky to have her riding for us. She is just a lovely person as well and there is no edge to her. She is a brilliant member of the team.
“It works really well and it makes us stronger because he understands it. He knows what I’m thinking most of the time and I know what he is thinking most of the time. “Helping Harry become champion Jump jockey was one of the things I’ve I remember we came out of Ascot Chase weekend and Harry came in and said I’m only eight behind in the title race and I said I think we can do this. “I said we will get you a winner a day until the end of the season. I spoke to Ian Popham, his agent, and we worked out what outside support he could rely on, and from that he averaged a winner a day on the days we were racing. “It was satisfying as it was something he wanted to do. He had a sniff of that enjoyed as much as anything. “I enjoyed the planning of it.
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chance and he didn’t let it go. “For my brother to have been
champion jockey and for me to be champion trainer – it would be great. It is something that I would love and I’m
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“For my brother to have been champion jockey and for me to be champion trainer would be great. It’s something I would love to do and I’m not going to change my mind” Dan Skelton
50 THE FESTIVAL PREVIEW MAGAZINE
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