Dan Skelton savoured life in the slow lane as he raided Ayr to rattle-off a hat-trick. The Warwickshire trainer and jockey brother Harry made their 600-mile round trip count with three winners from five runners on the opening day of the track’s jumping season.
Odds-on trio County Mile, Home Free and Dalston Lad all scored for Team Skelton to secure a chirpy trip back down the M74 for the siblings and their staff.
The handler revealed conditions were key to the visit when asked if this could be a sign of more contenders at Ayr in the months ahead.
He said: “Look, you get into the later season, we’ll see. I have to say the ground up here is fantastic and we’ve had to come up because we’ve had a few that we need to run on some slower ground. “Down south, we’ve just not had any rain and you have obviously had a good quantity up here.