The nuts-and-bolts of miracle working....

Last Updated: 30.10.2025

Thursday, 30th October 2025

The nuts-and-bolts of miracle working….

There’s more than one way to win….

How I play the racing is my way….

…. but it’s not the only way….

…. there are other strategies & alternative approaches that you can use to make the game pay….

More to follow….

In ATC today….

When Langer Dan won his second Coral Cup, Dan Skelton seemed like a miracle worker….

…. and he doesn’t need me to tell you he’s a top trainer – his record speaks for itself….

…. but I do believe that one of his many skills doesn’t get the attention it deserves….

Oh…. and find out how to get the inside line on an approach to race-betting that’s very different to my own….

Read on….

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Do you remember when Langer Dan won the Coral Cup at the Festival for the second year running in 2024? Watch it here….

It was as though Dan Skelton were a miracle worker….

…. like he’d placed his hands on the horse and returned it from the dead….

Langer Dan had done absolutely nothing that season….

He’d had four runs – finishing 6/7; P/10; 9/11; & 14/19….

…. and on those three occasions that he completed he was beaten an aggregate of 107-lengths….

It was the form profile of a horse that had gone at the game – not a Festival winner….

But then – after a 60-day break from the track – he went to Cheltenham and put a field of 20 top handicappers to the sword….

…. travelling as strong as a bull, hitting the front in the final half-furlong, running on like a champion, and winning ‘readily’….

If what we witnessed was a racing miracle – it certainly wasn’t unexpected….

…. Langer Dan had been backed into 13/2 ahead of the off….

Of course, punters who backed the horse were dancing in the streets….

…. and if a donkey could have been located on-course that day, Dan Skelton might have ridden into the winner’s enclosure on a carpet of palm fronds – much like Christ rode into Jerusalem….

Not everybody got completely carried away in the moment….

…. Skelton had to explain to the Stewards the turnaround in the horse’s form….

…. and he told the adjudicators that Langer Dan had endured a poor start to the campaign before being found to be suffering from stomach ulcers – and that treatment had worked the magic on this occasion….

The Stewards did what they always do – they ‘noted’ the explanation….

Now, I’m not trying to do Dan Skelton down – not at all….

…. he’s obviously a fine trainer, his record speaks for itself, and winning back-to-back editions of the Coral Cup with the same horse is a hell of a feat – however you pull the job off….

But for all the plaudits Dan Skelton received in the aftermath of that race I reckon one thing was really understated….

…. his uncanny ability to get horses down the rankings and back to a situation where they’re well-treated come the big day – the one being targeted….

Those four losses ahead of that second Coral Cup victory saw Langer Dan drop from 147 to 141 – the exact mark he’d won his first Coral Cup from….

For all his horsemanship and undoubted training and targeting skills, I don’t think Dan Skelton’s cleverness in getting a horse back down the rankings gets the exposure it deserves….

He got the job done like clockwork with Langer Dan….

…. but it doesn’t always work quite so seamlessly….

Take a look at Unexpected Party and his run at Cheltenham a week last Friday….

He finished 5/9 in the 2m handicap chase – beaten 16-lengths….

…. and young 7lb claimer Harry Atkins was awarded a 10-day suspension for the ride he gave to the horse….

…. explaining to the Stewards that he didn’t want to ask the horse for any more of an effort to make up ground on the leaders as he felt that he wouldn’t finish the race off well and that he felt he had asked for maximum effort having jumped the second last….

We punters will never know for sure what he asked for at the second last because the horse was completely out of camera shot….

…. but the stewards considered his finish a case of tender handling – hence the 10-day suspension….

Of course, who am I to argue with the jockey’s explanation – or a trainer who confirmed his jockey rode to instruction….

But I can’t help noticing that Unexpected Party starts this campaign rated 149….

…. 12lb higher than when winning the Grand Annual at the Festival in 2024….

…. and 5lb higher than when finishing second in that same race earlier this year….

…. and if you’re Dan Skelton, you’re probably thinking this horse needs to come down a few pounds in the rankings before he’s ready to strike….

Now, of course, I’m not suggesting Unexpected Party wasn’t at the races a fortnight back….

…. or that anything dodgy was taking place….

I’m just saying that the horse probably needs to drop a few pounds and that he’s in the right hands….

…. because his trainer is very good at making that happen….

Of course, these manoeuvres are all part of the handicap game – and we observe and take note….

Unexpected Party will be 11 by the time they line up for the Grand Annual in March….

…. and it’s going to be a big ask – even with a few pounds off his back….

But keep an eye on his progress this term – and on his mark….

…. and – when Dan Skelton succeeds in getting him down to a mark in the low 140s – don’t be surprised if he turns up somewhere for a big handicap and gets a very different type of ride than he got at Cheltenham….

On the upside, Harry Atkins can take something from the experience….

…. whatever he was doing or not doing at Cheltenham….

…. he’s discovered that he must do it or not do it just that bit better….

Because when you end up explaining yourself to the stewards, your horse doesn’t tend to get reassessed in the way you might hope – and all that lack of effort has been for nothing….

Every experience is a learning opportunity, isn’t it? ….

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I’ve been writing the ATC column for almost 20 years now….

…. and I’ve just been told….

…. in no uncertain terms….

…. that I’ve been playing the race-betting game “DEAD WRONG” for the entire time….

That’s right….

According to my most recently acquired racing acquaintance….

…. who – I must confess – does happen to know a thing or two (very smart guy)….

…. I’ve spent the last two decades playing the game completely “BACKASSWARD”….

…. and looking for race-betting profits in all the wrong places….

Want to know where he thinks the right place to look is?