© Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: Alan Crowhurst/PA
"We're taking on two monsters in a month's time," Dan Skelton said on Monday as he looked forward to the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham on 16 March, and while Allmankind, his winner of the Kingmaker Novice Chase, did not do quite enough to qualify as a third, it is also fair to say that Skelton will not be sending him to the Festival with merely the place money in mind.
Shishkin, last year's Supreme Novice Hurdle winner, and Willie Mullins's Energumene are the looming obstacles for Allmankind, an ex-Flat racer who remains at around 8-1 for the Arkle after what was ultimately a comfortable success. It also included the odd untidy jump, however, most obviously at the second-last, where Harry Skelton, Allmankind's jockey, did well to keep the partnership intact.
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After the assured flamboyance that marked his horse's win in the Grade One Henry VIII Novice Chase in December, it felt just a little underwhelming, but Allmankind was blowing quite hard after his first start for 72 days while his trainer also mentioned the sticky ground as a factor to bear in mind.
"I think he got stuck in the ground a little," Skelton said, "and you can't be asking for too many big jumps on it. I think that might be why he didn't get into the rhythm that he sometimes does.
"He showed a great attitude from the back of the last to stick his head down and get to the line. Another thing I've learned today is that he can get himself into some unusual positions at a jump and he knows how to get himself out of them and survive them, which I think is vital."
As for slaying the monsters in the Arkle, Skelton remains quietly confident of a big run from Allmankind, a gritty ex-Flat racer who will fight all the way up the hill. "The ability to dig deep is going to suit him at Cheltenham," the trainer said, "as you're going to have to stay. It's a long run from three out to two out in the Arkle and horses are going to concertina at that point, but we're tough, we can put our head down and give it a fair fight.
"At the end of the day, you only find out if you're behind these horses when you take them on. Everyone wants to know what the pecking order is but I'm happy to chuck our hat in the ring and say that he'll be a very, very tough customer. I don't see any chinks in his armour where you could say, that's why we might get beaten in an Arkle."
Skelton saddled three of the first four winners here on Monday and remains in second place in the trainers' title race with nearly £1m in the bank, a long way behind Paul Nicholls but still nearly £150,000 ahead of Shishkin's trainer, Nicky Henderson.
His Festival team also includes Nube Negra, who beat Altior in the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton's Christmas meeting, Shan Blue, who took the Grade One Kauto Star Novice Chase a day earlier, and Roksana, first and fourth in the last two runnings of the Mares' Hurdle. Skelton's stable will need to be a serious player next month if the massed ranks of Ireland's contenders for Cheltenham's Grade Ones are to be frustrated in any meaningful way.
© Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/PAHarry Skelton riding Allmankind on their way to winning the Kingmaker Novices' Chase.