Thistle Ask

Those three top-level wins came in rapid succession — Wetherby on 31 October, Exeter on 7 November, and then Kempton Park on 27 December in the Desert Orchid Chase, one of the most storied prizes in the calendar. What makes this run of form so striking is the trajectory. Trainer Dan Skelton admitted that just weeks before Exeter he wasn't even sure he'd enter the horse in that race. Instead, Thistle Ask went there and, in the words of jockey Harry Skelton, took everyone's breath away. Harry was candid about where the credit lay: it takes courage to place a horse this boldly, and Dan Skelton had backed his judgement completely.

That boldness has been rewarded spectacularly. By the time Thistle Ask lined up at Kempton, he had risen 35lb in the weights — the handicapper's way of saying a horse has become a problem. Most horses buckle under that kind of burden. Thistle Ask responded by winning a race where, according to Harry Skelton, another horse tried to match him stride for stride and he simply bared his teeth and went faster. "Someone wants to go as fast as me — let's go," was how Harry described his attitude. That is not a timid horse finding form. That is a competitor.

The numbers underneath all of this are quietly extraordinary too. On normal ground conditions — his favourite surface — Thistle Ask has won five of six races, a success rate of 83%. Dan Skelton's yard, based in Alcester in Warwickshire, has sent out 194 winners this season alone, so Thistle Ask is operating within one of the most powerful training operations in the country. He first won a race back in March 2023 at Ayr. The journey from there to a King George week victory at Kempton is a long one, and with talk of a Champion Chase tilt already in the air, it may not be over yet.