Dan Skelton saw his quest to land a first National Hunt Trainers’ Championship finally come to fruition in record-breaking fashion last season, but it was much more than just a dream come true moment.

After becoming the first National Hunt trainer to win more than £4 million in prize money, the Shelfield Green handler did not stop there after smashing the £5 million barrier on the final day of the season at Sandown Park en route to his moment of glory.

Prizing the title away from Skelton looks an almost impossible task for his contemporaries this season with an influx of both new owners and stock helping swell his numbers and further increase the level of talent at Lodge Hill stables.

Not only does Skelton look a sure thing to hold on to his crown, but his prospects of beating Martin Pipe’s tally of 243 winners in a single season is also on track to being eclipsed such is the start he has made to the current campaign across the summer.

With a century of winners already on the board, achieved in record-breaking time, it would take a brave man to bet against Skelton securing another slice of history while lifting aloft the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship crown once again in April.

Skelton said: “I wanted to be champion trainer, and we were, and that was absolutely incredible. To win the title was the aim of the season, and when we broke the prize money record in becoming the first to get four million, let alone five, it was amazing. It was so much fun, but we tried to make it fun, especially at the end there when the whole team went to Sandown Park, and I was very proud of that.

“Grey Dawning winning the Betfair Chase, having been just beaten in it before, was lovely as it put that right. Having four winners on Grand National day at Aintree was brilliant, while Panic Attack was so good throughout the season. It just felt like it kept moving forward and everyone got their day in the sun.

“We are on the topside of the curve to beat Martin’s record, and it would be great if we could do that. September and October made me very nervous as to what we had to run on the ground, but these tracks that have put on extra races on soft ground means we have been able to get them out. Without that I think we would have been stuck.

"To break the fastest one hundred winners, which was our own record, was really good, but trying to beat Martin’s record is something that is interesting and everyone is buying into it while the owners are enjoying it.”