Grey Dawning puts in a fantastic leap

Grey Dawning set to miss Cheltenham Gold Cup to take in Kelso and Aintree

By Ben Linfoot

Horse Racing

Sat February 22, 2025 · 1M ago

Dan Skelton is all set to skip Cheltenham with Grey Dawning and target prizes in Kelso and Aintree this spring.

The eight-year-old was one of four Cheltenham Festival winners for the jump trainers’ championship leader last season when he landed the now extinct Grade 1 Turners Novices’ Chase, but being pulled-up in the King George at Kempton on Boxing Day set him back.

After being taken out of the Ryanair Chase, the Gold Cup is his only Cheltenham entry but Skelton is planning to skip the Festival altogether in favour of taking in the Listed bet365 Premier Chase at Kelso on March 1 before heading for the Grade 1 Aintree Bowl at the Randox Grand National Festival in April.

Skelton said at his Cheltenham Festival media day on Friday: "The idea at the moment is to go to Kelso and Aintree. We’re getting to the point now where that is next week so that is the most likely scenario.

"I will leave him in the Gold Cup just in case something untoward happened to the opposition, I don't wish that on them.

"The Gold Cup picture is a little muddy behind the favourite [Galopin Des Champs] and that’s because of the strength of the favourite.

"With the favourite being in there it’s a super hard race to win. Yes, second and third do look up for grabs and maybe I’d have looked at this race differently if he’d had won at Haydock, but he didn’t, so we're not.

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"I feel like if we go to Kelso and Aintree it gives us two chances of running this spring because if he ran in the Gold Cup that would be the only race he could run in.

"He can’t go to Sandown or Punchestown right-handed, so we just need to do what is right for the horse - short and long term.

"Short term we give ourselves a chance of winning those races and long term maybe we gain more experience and come back as a Gold Cup contender next year.

"Of course I’m disappointed not to be going for a Gold Cup with a horse that last year I thought I would be, but things change and you have to be open to change with horses.

"He’s in great form, he looks outstanding and I think he will take a lot of beating at Kelso. If things go well at Kelso he’ll turn up at Aintree in the best possible shape and I imagine after a Gold Cup 19 days before not many will turn up in the shape they need to be."

On the other hand Protektorat is all set to defend his Ryanair Chase crown at Cheltenham next month after quickly recovering from a small setback on Thursday evening.

"He had an infection on his off-hind last night," Skelton said. "I wasn’t worried because I knew what it was and I knew he’d be okay, but I didn’t know if he’d be okay to come out this morning.

"I cannot tell you how hard that horse is. Last night when he started to get that infection, it was only a small one but it was quite sore and to come out like that this morning shows you what a character he is."