Marten Julian’s Weekly Roundup 6 April 2026

There was unsurprisingly quite a furore from some quarters following the revelation that four horses trained by Dan Skelton plus one trained by Christian Williams, all winners, had been backed in multiple bets last Tuesday.

The operation had apparently cost the bookmakers what was described as a sum ‘comfortably into five figures’, which still falls a long way below the amount that Barney Curley won on the couple of notable occasions that he went for a multiple payday.

The first thing to say is that Dan Skelton and his team are to be commended for the skill with which they conceived this plan. For a start, there can’t be many days in the programme book when there are opportunities for his four horses to run on the same day, let alone win.

Second, it’s remarkable that he and his team managed to get the four horses fit and primed to peak on the same day without mishap in their preparation.

Third, they evidently managed to get their money on, although to what extent and at what prices is not known. His four horses were priced up very defensively from the outset … nothing like the long double-figure odds that Barney Curley’s early-comers acquired.

The clamour from those who called foul was over the horses’ previous runs but, in my view, there were plenty of clues in the public domain to suggest that they all had winning chances.

Coumeenoole had dropped 11lbs from 119 to 108, Palamon had dropped 15lbs from 126 to 111, Service Minimum had dropped 8lbs from 113 to 105, and Tyson had dropped 9lbs from 102 to 93. The fifth horse, Three Zambezi’s, had dropped 8lbs from 82 to 74.

Three of the five winners ran in the ownership of The Blind Squirrels partnership and their horses had each been acquired from Paul Nolan’s yard in early January. The extent to which the Irish connections were still involved is unknown.

Once the money came in anyone with even a basic understanding of such things could have seen a number of links, the exception being Three Zambezi’s, who was trained by Christian Williams and apparently not included in all of the multiples.

I’ve had a look at the previous runs of the horses and there was nothing obviously suspicious about the rides.

Of course there are things that can be done at home to try to ensure that a horse is below its best … a gallop or two short, a strong piece of work on the morning of the race, a dietary adjustment such as a low-protein mix or something as basic as running the horse on unsuitable ground or over the wrong trip.

I’ve said many times before that a top-class trainer has to have the ability to make a good horse look bad, but this is a subject that is never discussed in the public arena, probably because it could be construed as undermining the perceived integrity of the sport.

Punters cannot expect everything to be presented before them, but I rarely see blatant examples of horses being stopped by jockeys in a race these days. As I’ve said, there are more subtle practices that can be applied at home which will not be obvious to the recreational punter and that will always be the case while there are handicap races in the calendar.

A trainer will always have an explanation as to why a horse has run badly or appeared to show improvement and nothing will change in that respect.

I would be more concerned with the apparent accepted practice in which unraced or lightly-raced horses are schooled round in Irish novice hurdles with no questions asked … triers at the front and the rest restrained out of their way.

It’s Aintree this week, where I hope to land the second leg of the spring double initiated by Urban Lion in the Lincoln.

Bye for now

Why wait a week? Our subscribers received this edition, written on 30 March, direct to their inbox.

Receive Marten’s free horse racing publication Weekly Roundup, the day it is written in full for free every Monday evening by clicking here & signing up for our free Newsletter.

© Copyright in all Marten Julian Publications is strictly reserved by the publishers. No material therein may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from Marten Julian.