Dan Skelton is looking to secure his first National Hunt trainers’ title this season and looks to have a strong team heading to Prestbury Park.
He could have one hand on the trophy after the March spectacle, but just how many Cheltenham Festival winners has Dan Skelton had?
Dan Skelton Has 11 Cheltenham Festival Winners To His Name
As we edge closer to the meeting, Dan Skelton will be hoping to add to his current tally of 11 winners at the four day spectacle and pick up plenty of Cheltenham Festival prize money in a hunt for the trainers championship.
Skelton’s first success at the meeting came 10 years ago in 2016 when Superb Story won the County Hurdle, a race the stable likes to target. The trainer has had three more wins in it since then with Mohaayed (2018), Ch’tibello (2019) and Faivoir (2023) all providing the goods.
He also won the Mares’ Hurdle with Roskana in 2019 but two of his biggest wins have come in the last two years.
In 2024, yard flagbearer Protektorat produced an almighty performance to win the Ryanair Chase and in 2025, The New Lion won the Turners Novices’ Hurdle just weeks after being purchased by leading horse racing owner JP McManus.
Langer Dan is one of the most famous horses in recent Festival history after he won two of the last three runnings of the Coral Cup in 2023 and 2024. The course specialist was talked up as a ‘spring horse’ by his handler and has provided two of the 11 Dan Skelton Cheltenham Festival winners.
WATCH: Langer Dan Coasts To Coral Cup Win
Langer Dan – Coral Cup 2024#CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/mYcxLShMSj
— Cheltenham Festival Fans (@cheltfestfans) August 16, 2024
2024 was Skelton’s most successful week at Cheltenham after he also won the Grand Annual with Unexpected Party and Turners Novices’ Chase with stable star Grey Dawning as well as the Coral Cup and Ryanair which was mentioned above.
And the 2026 Cheltenham Festival has the potential of being the biggest yet for Alcester outfit.
All 11 Dan Skelton Cheltenham Festival Winners
- Turners Novices’ Hurdle – The New Lion (2025)
- Turners Novices’ Chase – Grey Dawning (2024)
- Ryanair Chase – Protektorat (2024)
- Mares’ Hurdle – Roksana (2019)
- County Hurdle – Superb Story (2016), Mohaayed (2018), Ch’tibello (2019), Faivoir (2023)
- Coral Cup – Langer Dan (2023, 2024)
- Grand Annual – Unexpected Party (2025)
Note: Correct before 2026 Cheltenham Festival
FUN FACT – Dan Skelton Cheltenham Festival Winners All Ridden By Family
The Skelton operation really has been a family affair over the years and interestingly all 11 of the yard’s Cheltenham Festival winners were ridden by family members.
Dan’s brother Harry rode nine of these winners, whilst the other two were ridden by Harry’s wife, dual County Hurdle hero Bridget Andrews.
Dan Skelton 2026 Cheltenham Festival Main Hopes
In a recent media morning at his Warwickshire stable, Skelton said he will have between 30 and 35 horses running over the duration of the four-day meeting – could he be a threat to the Willie Mullins Cheltenham Festival winners tally?
And it’s not just the handicaps that the yard will have big hopes for. Skelton trains horses all with chances in each of the four championship races.
The New Lion is antepost favourite for the Champion Hurdle and Kabral Du Mathan has been well supported for the Stayers’ Hurdle, meanwhile seasoned chasers Grey Dawning and L’eau du Sud are both prominent in the Gold Cup and Champion Chase markets respectively.
Champion Hurdle hope The New Lion will be looking for back-to-back wins at the festival and seems to be the right favourite after it was recently announced that Nicky Henderson’s Constitution Hill will not be competing over hurdles again. Running in the green and gold hoops of JP McManus, he’s sure to be popular with punters on the day.
WATCH: The New Lion Narrowly Gets Up In Turners
Grey Dawning has every right to warrant respect in the Gold Cup given he acts fairly well at the course. Winning it will be a tough ask, but there’s no reason why the classy nine-year-old can’t run into the places in the biggest race of the week which is live on ITV Racing.
Festival handicap plots are one of the most popular talking points in the lead up to Cheltenham week and Skelton appeared to be rather bullish about the chances of one of his mares, Kateira.
He compared her to former Festival ‘plot job’ and two-time Coral Cup winner Langer Dan and Kateira will be aimed at the same race. Skelton nominated her as his dark horse for this year’s Cup (formerly known as Coral Cup) and that comment saw her price cut from 33/1 to 12/1.
Away from The New Lion, Skelton has four other antepost favourites. The shortest one of those is Madara who will have a crack at the Plate, then Supremely West in the Pertempts Final, A Pai De Nom in the Martin Pipe and Be Aware in the Grand Annual.
