Panic Attack’s Gold Cup victory at Cheltenham a boost for Skelton’s title hopes

Panic Attack, a nine-year-old mare given a new lease of life by a switch to the Dan Skelton yard, gave her new stable’s pursuit of a first win in the National Hunt trainers’ championship a significant boost with a 6-1 success in the Paddy Power Gold Cup.

Skelton was the first trainer to pass £1m in prize money after a win in the feature event on Friday’s card and he picked up both the £91,000 first prize for Panic Attack’s four-length defeat of Vicenzo, the favourite, and a further £17,000 for Hoe Joly Smoke’s third-place finish.

“That [the title] is a long way off but it’s fairly obvious that we’ve got the best team we’ve ever had,” said Skelton, who was celebrating his first success in the first big handicap chase of the season. “But there’s no point knocking on the door, they’ve got to keep going through it.

“The horses of yesteryear were brilliant and they got through plenty of doors, but when you’ve got a bigger team, it just feels easier.”

Skelton is a 2-5 chance with Paddy Power to claim a first title success, having been edged out in the final weeks of the season by Willie Mullins in each of the last two campaigns. Mullins is 7-4 for a third straight success while Paul Nicholls, who needs one more championship to equal Martin Pipe’s all-time record of 15, is a 16-1 chance.

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