Kadastral

The headline number is Newbury: 2 wins from 3 races there, making it something close to a home track. His most significant result came in a Class 2 race at Newbury on 22 March 2025 — one of the better races in Britain — and trainer Dan Skelton made clear afterwards that there was no urgency to chase big festival targets immediately after. Rather than heading to Cheltenham, the plan points towards Aintree. Skelton's reasoning is worth knowing: Kadastral is described as a tall, narrow horse, still filling out, and the approach is to pick the right races rather than rush him into the wrong ones. There is a quiet confidence behind that — you only talk about protecting a horse's development when you believe there is something worth protecting.

Skelton was also candid that Kadastral is, at heart, a future chaser — meaning the fences rather than the hurdles will likely be where he ends up. That is not a criticism. Some of the best horses in training spend their early years building experience over hurdles before graduating to the bigger obstacles, and the trainer seems to believe Kadastral has the talent to be very good at both. He's already won at the top end of hurdle racing, and the feeling from the yard is that improvement is still coming.

Harry Skelton, Dan's brother, has ridden Kadastral in all 6 races and won twice together — that same 1-in-3 record. It is a tight partnership, and continuity of jockey matters more than people realise; it builds an understanding race by race. Dan Skelton's yard at Alcester has sent out 194 winners this season, which is not a coincidence — this is one of the sharpest operations in the country.

Kadastral last raced 41 days ago and has had a short break. Given the trainer's stated preference to be selective rather than busy with this horse, expect him to come back fresh and primed rather than rushed. A horse described this carefully by his own trainer tends to justify the faith eventually.