Hot To Trot: Dan's still the man

Flat trainer: David Simcock

August was a fine month for David Simcock’s stable book-ended by the group race wins at Goodwood of Breton Rock in the Lennox Stakes and Lightning Spear in the Celebration Mile. Winners might have been harder to come by this month, but the yard’s horses are running better than that would suggest, stable favourite Sheikhzayedroad finishing third in his bid to win the Doncaster Cup for the second year running, for example. In any case, the barren spell was ended by a couple of wins in the last week or so and the stable has live chances of further success in the days ahead. Two-year-old filly Sarshampla was a creditable sixth in a listed race at Newbury last time and she can make the most of a drop in grade in a novice event at Bath on Monday. She’s proven on soft ground after winning a similar event under those conditions at Lingfield two starts back. On Tuesday, Marine One could make his return from a summer break in the mile and a half maiden at Kempton. He looked unlucky when a strong-finishing second in a similar event at Newcastle when last seen after being left with too much to do and shouldn’t be far away again if making expected progress. Elsewhere on the Kempton card, Te Koop could bid to go one better in the novice auction event after running green when second on his recent debut at Newcastle, while Free Forum runs off the same mark as when third over course and distance last time in the concluding mile and a half handicap.  

Jumps trainer: Dan Skelton

The top jumping stables will be starting to step things up a notch over the next couple of months as the season gets into full swing but Dan Skelton has already been going great guns through the summer, opening up a lead of some £200,000 over nearest pursuer Jonjo O’Neill in the trainers’ championship and racking up more than twice as many wins as any other trainer so far this season. Skelton’s lead will be harder to maintain from hereon in, but the yard’s form has held up well through September, with another seven wins (and eighteen places) this month, including a double at local track Warwick on Tuesday. Improving seemingly modest animals from other stables has been key to the yard’s success in these early months of the campaign and both Get Ready Freddy and Shrubland, entries in a handicap hurdle at Stratford on Monday, are prime examples of horses who have thrived for the move to Skelton's yard this summer. Shrubland is also entered at Sedgefield on Tuesday, a track where he formed part of a stable treble in late-August and where the yard has good prospects of further success next week. Cobra de Mai ran up a hat-trick in May, which included two impressive wins in novice chases. He was pulled up with an irregular heartbeat on his latest start but has the opportunity to resume his progress in a similar event after a four-month break. Other entries at Sedgefield on Tuesday include Hestina, who should find the handicap hurdle a more manageable task than the Newmarket listed race she contested last time, while the well-related winning Irish pointer Knight In Dubai is an interesting debutant in the bumper.

Under the Radar: Ian Williams

Dual-purpose trainer Ian Williams has hit form with a vengeance as September draws to a close with six winners in as many days, ranging from a sprint handicap at Wolverhampton to a mares’ hurdle at Warwick. Two of those wins were provided by The Statesman who landed a quick-fire double at Sandown and Newmarket, his latter win one of three successes in the yard’s current purple patch for promising 7lb claimer Manuel Fernandes. It’s over jumps that the stable has its best chances of maintaining its fine run of form early next week. Hernandes and Speedo Boy are both entered for Stratford’s juvenile hurdle on Monday, and it’s the latter who’d be the more interesting of the pair debuting over hurdles as he’s a useful performer on the Flat, having won a listed race in France for the yard earlier in the year. Another useful Flat performer, who has already had a taste of hurdling, is Banditry. He hasn’t reached the same level yet over jumps, but was a promising second at Worcester recently and has chances of going one better at Southwell on Tuesday.