Title challenge: how does Skelton turn tables next season?

said he didn’t want any sympathy after being pipped at the post in the battle for the 2024-25 British Jump Trainers' Championship.

But it was impossible not to feel sorry for the man who had led almost every step of the way in this 358-day marathon, only to have the winner’s medal snatched away from him by a competitor, Willie Mullins, who essentially only joined in the race last month.

“See you next year, same time, same place” Skelton said as he congratulated Mullins following the penultimate race of the season, when his fate was sealed.

He will perhaps take some comfort from the fact that had lost a titanic tussle for the trainers’ championship on this day 20 years ago. That was the fifth time Nicholls he had been runner-up to Martin Pipe, but he turned the tables the following year and his nemesis then promptly retired.

Nicholls, 63, has gone on to become a 14-time champion, a shining example of “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again”.

Skelton again put it in the hard yards this season, accumulating prize-money bit by bit, day in and day out, only for Mullins to grab him as the line loomed courtesy of a sequence of overwhelming big-race triumphs.

This was the second successive season that Skelton has gone so close, yet so far. Last year he ended up losing by a margin of £181,632, this time it was £199,507 after he had led by about £67,000 going into the final day at a sun-soaked Sandown Park.

“One Willie Mullins, there’s only one Willie Mullins, one Willie Mullins, there’s only one Willie Mullinssss,” sang a  racegoer by the winner's enclosure after had waltzed home in the Oaksey Chance. Which is a good job, because if there were two Willie Mullins' then British trainers might as well just give up now.

The bookmakers cannot agree on what will happen next season. If you shop around, you can get 7-4 Skelton; 3-1 Mullins; 5-1 Nicholls and 12-1 Nicky Henderson. Everyone else is at least 250-1.

How does Skelton turn things around for the 2025-26 campaign, which gets under way only a week from now?

He reckons his team will be stronger than ever and perhaps a repeat of his exploits this season may be good enough. Chipping away at the coal face day after day and getting £3 million or so in the bank could be enough. After all, it has been for half of the past decade. 

The 40-year-old was represented by 255 horses in 996 races this season, chalking up 179 winners. His weight of numbers means that, barring dips in form or ill health, his bulging Warwickshire stable is sure to again make its presence felt. 

But he is still short of the quality required to plunder some of the biggest prizes, and a second concern is that he has been operating at maximum capacity, whereas Mullins has another gear or two left in his locker. 

Timeform crunched their numbers this week and revealed Skelton has only eight horses with a rating of 145 or higher. By contrast, Mullins has a whopping 58 among his team. 

That perfectly illustrates the huge advantage the latter has when it comes to trying to plunder some of the most richly endowed prizes on these shores, plus, of course, his native Ireland, where next week he will turn his attention to Punchestown. 

And we are not just talking about the Graded contests. The biggest handicap of them all, the £1 million Grand National, featured no Skelton runners this month, whereas Mullins was responsible for five of the first seven home. 

It would be dangerous to assume that was a freak occurrence in a race that will continue to have a huge bearing on where the championship is won and lost. 

The five horses who got in the money for Mullins will all be young enough to give it another go 12 months from now, and then he will have a second wave coming through via his staying novices from this term, such as Captain Cody, this month’s snug Scottish winner. 

Protekotorat was Skelton’s biggest money-earner this term with £183,192 but, for all his exuberance, he will be turning 11 years of age next term. A lot could hinge on whether The New Lion, Grey Dawning or L’Eau Du Sud, perhaps all three, can go to the next level. Between them, they scooped about £450,000 this term. 

The most troubling aspect for Skelton supporters is that he squeezed the lemon dry, whereas Mullins could yet ratchet things up to another level. 

Like a gifted but laid-back scholar, he turned a year-long assignment into a five-week project. And pulled it off, while admitting he had found the past few weeks “tough” and that his first title success, last year, had been sweeter. 

He had scooped only about £200,000 heading to the Cheltenham Festival, giving Skelton a huge head start. 

It is difficult to believe he will win so little in the first ten months of next season, and he would only have to pay more attention to, let’s say, a Betfair Chase or King George VI Chase to transform his figures. 

He has a perfect candidate, too, for both those races (worth a combined £264,000 to the winner) in Fact To File. It’s unlikely that his owner, JP McManus, would need much arm twisting to entertain the double, if any at all. 

In addition, you sense that Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson could make a greater impact next season, and that could also dent Skelton’s numbers along the way. The former, in particular, was in typically upbeat mode on Saturday and is adamant his title-winning days are not behind him. 

Mullins would love nothing more than the trio to compromise the chance of each other. 

Not that he and his team require much help. There's only one Willie Mullins. 

Paddy Power: 11-8 Willie Mullins, 7-4 Dan Skelton, 11-4 Paul Nicholls, 5 Nicky Henderson, 100 Olly Murphy, 150 Nigel Twiston- Davies, 200 Fergal O'Brien, Venetia Williams.

William Hill: 4-7 Dan Skelton, 3-1 Willie Mullins, 5-1 Paul Nicholls, 12-1 Nicky Henderson, 250-1 others.