L'Eau du Sud

That run began at Stratford-on-Avon in October 2024 — his first career win — and then promptly accelerated into something remarkable. November 2024 at Cheltenham, December 2024 at Sandown Park, February 2025 at Warwick, and then back to Cheltenham in November 2025. Four top-level wins at four different tracks in thirteen months. Cheltenham has become his particular stage: two wins from six races there, and it was there he produced what Skelton called his best race. "I can't complain," the trainer said afterwards, though he noted the pace made the race complicated. L'Eau du Sud ended up in front slightly earlier than ideal and was run down by a winner he was never quite going to catch — which, given how the race was run, is more an endorsement than a criticism.

Skelton's great insight is that this horse needs to arrive at a race absolutely bursting with freshness. Turn up with him too soon, or race him without proper space between runs, and the magic disappears. He said after Sandown — a run he was happy with but felt was not their best — that the race had come "too quickly" and the horse had underperformed as a result. The plan from here is to point him at the Champion Chase, one of the most prestigious prizes in the sport, with the preparation calibrated carefully. "I feel I've learned the last bit about the horse that I needed to learn," Skelton said, which is a trainer's way of saying they now hold the key.

Harry Skelton, who rides for his brother's yard, has been aboard for all five wins from their 16 races together — a win rate of 31%, or nearly 1 in every 3. With 194 winners sent out by the Alcester yard this season alone, this is a powerful operation with serious ambitions. L'Eau du Sud, given the right preparation, looks every inch a horse capable of meeting them.