During any interview you dread the one-word answer. They can arrive from nowhere.
On a Jockey Club zoom on Friday morning, host Tom Bull never saw this one coming. But it was delivered in mischievous fashion from Dan Skelton. It said plenty too.
TB: “Most schools of thought would suggest he has to improve again to win a King George. Are you confident he can?”
DS: “Yeah.”
TB: “Simple as that?”
DS: “Yeah”.
So Grey Dawning is ready for the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day.
His name featured among 14 six-day entries for the Grade One showpiece, which includes the supplemented trio of Spillane's Tower, The Real Whacker and Juntos Ganamos.
He’s 4/1 second-favourite too – a far cry from the immediate aftermath of his reappearance second behind Royale Pagaille in an attritional Betfair Chase.
Skelton immediately ruled Kempton out as he welcomed his charge back at Haydock - so what's changed?
"He’s really, really good. I have to say immediately after the race I was like 'wow, that’s going to take months go get over' and I really didn’t expect to be running him at Christmas, and I didn’t really know when I was expecting to be running him if I’m honest,” he said.
“But I cannot believe how well he came out of the race, even the day after and he’s been brilliant at home since and has done a couple of pieces of work on grass and jumped well. His rider - Tom Messenger, my assistant - is very happy with him, the physio is happy with him, he handles well, I’m really surprised at how well he is.
“Not because he’s a horse who's not always well but that was a particularly hard race so to have him in this shape is more than I could have hoped for really and I’m very excited about it. I’m quite positive really.
“I wasn’t sure where else I was going to go. I was toying with the idea of Windsor for the Winter Millions fixture, there’s Trials Day at Cheltenham, but I didn’t really want to end up subjecting him to another slog on very testing ground which both of those fixtures could be and historically have been.
"I know Windsor haven’t staged jump fixtures for a while but it was very soft there last Sunday after a relatively dry spell.
“I’m really pleased we’re in the position we’re in and are going into this race. I wouldn’t change it.”
So what of the Kempton ground? Currently described as good to soft, good in places, with a bit of weekend rain forecast but then another dry and mild spell.
“I think we’d all ideally like to be simple good to soft ground across the whole lot. That’s not going to probably be the case but given how much rain there’s been earlier in the winter and how wet it had been, I know it’s been dry for a while, I still think there’s plenty of moisture underneath,” Skelton reasoned.
“I think it will be a very safe surface, if anything it could just be a little sticky. Drying ground can just get that way, it could be a bit harder work than good to soft, good in places, but I don’t really have any concerns about it.
“After running on really, really slow conditions last time I think he’s going to look forward to being on better ground at Kempton."
One thing Grey Dawning is short of is match-practice going right-handed. He did win novice hurdles at Kempton and Exeter but his only outing over fences going that way round came when third at the latter track on his reappearance last term.
“If you watch him at Warwick last season in that novice chase he does go strongly left at the last, but Harry is looking for a shorter stride and it’s his natural instinct to go that way. I don’t think he’s anything like Protektorat. I said before the Peterborough Chase I had concerns about him going right-handed because I knew it was concern.
“I don’t have anything like those concerns for Grey Dawning. Protektorat hangs that way and weirdly jumps right. Grey Dawning doesn’t hang at all, he just pops a little bit left. I know we’re talking about an elite horse in Kauto Star, but he used to go around Kempton and flick out to his left. A lot of them do around that track, they do go out to the left especially up the straight.
“I don’t think it’s a big, big thing. He won at Kempton as a hurdler and at Exeter over fences last season he needed the run badly and jumped straight. I don’t really have massive concerns.”
And as for the opposition? Spillane's Tower usurped Grey Dawning at the head of the market after being supplemented on Friday morning and Skelton has plenty of respect for the Irish improver, who pushed Fact To File close in the John Durkan at Punchestown.
“Spillane’s Tower was a very good last time but again he’s just out of novice company like we are. How much is there between us really?," Skelton asked.
“I think if Venetia has L’Homme Presse anything like his best he’d be a threat. Banbridge has good form and has won at Kempton and I don’t think Bravemansgame is a complete no-hoper on ground that he likes and after the positive effect of the blinkers last time.
“But with respect if he beat him at Haydock, I’d like to think we can beat him again. I think we’re in a strong position. I’m not jumping up and down saying we should be a short-priced favourite and the most likely winner or anything, that’s not what I think. But I do feel we’re in a pretty good position going into it.”
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