Dan Skelton may have won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship for the first time in 2025/26, but he has to saddle a winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup or the Grand National. However, he has a realistic prospect for the latter in the form of the eight-year-old Jet Away gelding Mr Hope Street, who raced just four times over fences, but won the final start of his novice campaign in promising style. He may have only won by a head, but victory in the Freebooter Handicap Chase on the Mildmay Course at Aintree, on his first attempt beyond three miles, represented a major step forward and augurs well for his future as a staying chaser.
Bookmakers are not always right, but the fact that Mr Hope Street is trading at a shorter price than stable companion Panic Attack – who was an early casualty in the 2026 Grand National, but nonetheless sent off 7/1 second favourite – in the early ante-post lists for the 2027 Grand National may be a hint worth taking when it comes to considering future prospects. Mr Hope Street has done all his winning, over hurdles and fences, on good to soft or softer going, so underfoot conditions at Aintree should be to his liking, granted the watering policy in operation. By the time April 10, 2027 rolls around, Mr Hope Street will, of course, be a nine-year-old, but of the last 10 Grand National winners Rule The World (2016), Tiger Roll (2019) and Corach Rambler (2023) were all in the same age bracket.
Named after the Hope Street Hotel, in the Georgian Quarter of Liverpool, it was fitting that Mr Hope Street was the third leg of a 10,518/1 four-timer for Dan Skelton at Aintree on Grand National Day 2025. At that point, winning jockey Harry Skelton said, “He [Mr Hope Street] hasn’t had a clear run of things and he’s had his niggling issues really throughout the year, so we couldn’t get many runs into him. Three miles on nice ground is what he wants.”