Old Roan Chase report | Allmankind rules at Aintree
By Sporting Life
16:36 · SUN October 24, 2021
Dan Skelton's Allmankind won the Grade 2 Jewson Monet's Garden Old Roan Chase at Aintree on Sunday.
The five-year-old made most of the running to deny the fast-finishing Itchy Feet who was beaten a length in second.
Midnight Shadow headed Allmankind at the open ditch three from home, but a good jump there under Harry Skelton saw the 9/4 favourite regain the initiative and he battled on well under pressure to seal the win.
The winning rider said: "He's unbelievable. He's got the biggest heart going. He breaks every rule going as a racehorse, he's done everything backwards, but he's got a will to win.
"He owes us nothing. He's brilliant for the Gredley family. Dan's trained him to perfection, he knew he had to get a run into him which he did at Chepstow.
"He's not as free as he was, he's just tough, very tough. That's what you need in a racehorse."
Betfair Sportsbook cut Allmankind to 20/1 from 33s for the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham in March, while he is 10s from 20s for the Ryanair.
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Dan Skelton said: “He’s magic. Everything went well the whole pre-season and I knew I had to go to Chepstow over hurdles to get a run into him because I was saying the whole way along that he can’t win here unless he gets a run in, so it was so important that he got that run in over hurdles.
“There are not many horses that you can switch hurdles to fences and back and know that you’re going to get that consistency with, but he breaks a lot of rules this horse. He is only five years old and has just won a handicap off 160 – it’s big and I’m very proud of the horse, forget all the rest. He doesn’t know how to let himself down or anyone around and he’s just an absolute credit to the game.
“He wants to win and it’s just a great attitude to have, some are born with it and some aren’t. To have that desire and ability to match is unusual and that’s why he’s top-class. He’s just a fantastic horse to have anything to do with.
“We’ll forget future plans for now, this was his big day and he’s only a five year old. There won’t be any big plans and we’ll just look after him, ultimately he’ll come back here for the Melling Chase and he’ll get one run between now and then.
“I’m not going to over-race him, let’s not empty the well and leave something there for when he’s seven, eight and nine. If you over-race him this year you’re going to inevitably come to the end of your journey with him and I don’t want that.
“Ultimately next year I think he’ll race over three miles and I said last year that Cheltenham wasn’t really his track. He might not even run this side of Christmas, but we’re all very proud of him and I can’t tell you how much I love him.”
Itchy Feet (11/2) was third in this race 12 months ago and went one place better this year, a performance which pleased his trainer Olly Murphy.
He said: “He ran a cracker. He’s a horse that I think is going to be going up in trip before too long and I thought on the whole he jumped a lot better in what looked a warm renewal, so it’s a good starting point. He’s a good horse and he just needs everything to go right. Dan’s horse had a run and this is our starting point.
“We’ll be going up in trip at some point and I’m not sure where we’re going next but he’s a horse who’s going to be competing in all the good races.”
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