Timeform ratings reveal scale of Dan Skelton’s challenge in title battle with Willie Mullins

Timeform ratings help highlight the incredible strength in depth at Willie Mullins' disposal and just how difficult a task Dan Skelton has faced in trying to wrest the title from the champion.

After the retirement of Langer Dan, Skelton was left with seven horses with a Timeform rating of 145 or higher, the benchmark for smart form over jumps, while Etalon also reached that level when successful at Perth on Wednesday.

In contrast, Mullins has a remarkable 58 horses rated 145 or higher, providing him with a far deeper pool of horses to choose from in the most valuable end-of-season races that has enabled him to rapidly eat into the lead Skelton has spent all season accumulating and will probably prove decisive in the trainers' championship.

That was evident in the Grand National, in which Mullins saddled the first three home, plus the fifth and the seventh, from his six runners to take a huge chunk out of Skelton's title lead. Mullins also had six runners in the Scottish National - comprising an even greater percentage of the field - and had a one-two.

The Scottish National winner, Captain Cody, hasn't been declared for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on Saturday but Mullins still has 10 runners and is responsible for half the field. Skelton has only one runner, Hoe Joly Smoke, in the bet365 Gold Cup while he had just two runners in the Scottish Grand National, Snipe and Sail Away, and was not represented in the Grand National at Aintree.

Tony McFadden, deputy racing editor at Timeform and Sporting Life, said: "At Sandown on Saturday alone Mullins has declared 21 horses, 11 of whom have smart Timeform ratings. That's more horses rated 145+ running on one card than Skelton (8) and Nicky Henderson (10) could call upon and only one fewer than Paul Nicholls has in his stable.

"It is not by luck that Mullins has been able to acquire such a deep and talented team - he is reaping the rewards for decades of success. But when the Mullins juggernaut fixes on a target there is now almost an inevitability it will crush anything in its path."

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