Kabral Du Mathan oozes class in Relkeel romp

Kabral Du Mathan sprinted clear of his rivals to run out a comfortable winner of the Dornan Engineering Relkeel Hurdle at Cheltenham.

Sent off the 8-15 favourite for Dan and Harry Skelton after a wide-margin win on his debut for the yard, Kabral Du Mathan travelled supremely well throughout the extended two-and-a-half-mile affair as Gowel Road set out to make all with Jingko Blue in pursuit.

It was Jingko Blue who was in front coming down to the final flight but when Harry Skelton gave the signal, Kabral Du Mathan moved up a gear and quickly opened up a gap, coming home a five-and-a-half-length winner.

Kabral Du Mathan is now a 5-1 chance from 8s with Coral for the Stayers’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, with Dan Skelton favouring a direct route to the big day in March.

He said: “It was exactly what I wanted to see and fair play to the horse.

“I know the others are in a bunch behind him, but they’ve not gone that quick and it’s turned into a sprint and he’s got a good turn of foot.

“He’s a younger horse than the others and had no penalty to carry and that is why he was prohibitive odds, but we couldn’t be happier with that and that is just what we wanted to see. He’s a beauty to train, a very simple and straightforward horse and I’m delighted with him.

“I didn’t want to go all the way to three miles at once. There was a heap of expectation after Haydock and he needed to win today to go to the next level and he has.

“I would say it is straight to the Stayers’ Hurdle now and you might say straight to Aintree and wait a year to go three miles, but I’m greedy and we’ll go three at the Festival.”

It was a poignant success after father-and-son ownership team of Neil and Alfie Smith lost their father and grandfather Ken over the Christmas period.

Skelton added: “Neil Smith lost his father in the week and this is a big boost for him. The Smiths are big supporters of the sport and we have to look after owners like this.

“Regardless of horses moving, I’m just the benefactor of that and I just want to point out it’s been a hard time for Neil and a nice winner like this will not go amiss.

“They are sports people and you have to get on and run. The horses don’t know what we’re putting up with as people and, to be honest, we don’t know what horses are putting up with most of the time, so you can only take your hat off to them.”