Amongst the 1,000s of racehorses plying their trade in Britain and Ireland, there are those who fall firmly into the consistent category – turning up time after time to produce a similar level of performance and invariably giving their all. Other equine athletes appear to have their own ideas about the game and require a specific set of circumstances to consider putting their best hoof forward.
In recent years, one of the finest examples of a horse who can politely be labelled as “idiosyncratic” hails from the yard of Dan Skelton and goes by the name of Langer Dan. Ordinarily, a runner who was last sighted finishing a 45-length last of five at Class 2 level wouldn’t be a live challenger for a Grade 1 at the Cheltenham Festival. However, Langer Dan is no ordinary horse. Despite that no-show at Windsor, the nine-year-old son of Ocovango has only four horses ahead of him in the 2025 Stayers’ Hurdle market.
Anyone wondering why that should be the case needs to look no further than the improbable improvement displayed by Langer Dan at the past two editions of the Cheltenham Festival.
2023 – Flop in January, Coral Cup Hero in March
Having finished second to Galopin Des Champs in the 2021 Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys Handicap Hurdle and landed a competitive handicap at Aintree on his final start in 2022, there was no doubt that Langer Dan was a talented performer on his day.
However, those days looked some way off on his first three outings of the 2022/23 campaign. Beating only one home on his comeback at Aintree, he returned to Merseyside to be beaten by 11 lengths in December and rounded off his Cheltenham preparations with a 35-length thrashing at the hands of Maries Rock in January.
Fast forward to the 2023 edition of the Coral Cup, and Langer Dan remembered that he was a rather talented horse after all. A total of 25 rivals lay in wait in a typically competitive renewal of the 2m5f handicap, and the mount of Harry Skelton showed class and guts aplenty to master them all.
2024 – Woeful in Winter, History Books in Spring
Given the rest of the year off following that famous success, Langer Dan returned to the track in November 2023. However, in four starts over the winter months, he gave every impression he would rather be tucked up in the warmth of his stable. Four outings at Kempton (twice), Doncaster, and Sandown yielded 27-length, 31-length, and 49-length defeats and a pulled-up effort. Next stop, the defence of his Coral Cup crown.
Since its inception in 1993, no runner has claimed the Coral Cup on more than one occasion. Could a horse with such woeful recent form break that trend?
Alas, Langer Dan once again showed his admirable ability to tear up the recent form book. Back down to his 2023 winning mark of 141, the enigmatic star cruised into contention in the straight, looked like he had just joined in at the last hurdle, and sauntered more than three lengths clear of his vigorously ridden rivals.
2025 – A Similar Pattern Ahead of Stayers Hurdle Tilt
Moving on to the 2024/25 campaign and Langer Dan is finally beginning to become a little more predictable. Whether he doesn’t like the weather or needs a few runs to hit top stride, he is simply awful during the winter months. Third of four at Newbury, fifth of six at Cheltenham, and a 45-length last of five at Windsor, the Colm Donlon-owned star has once again done his best impression of a horse who is highly unlikely to score at the biggest meeting of the National Hunt year.
Of course, we have seen this movie before. However, rather than the comparatively easy pickings of a handicap event, in 2025, Langer Dan has raised his sights to target Grade 1 glory in the Day 3 feature of the Stayers’ Hurdle. He’s never won in Grade 1 company, or indeed over the three-mile trip of the Stayers’ Hurdle. Those are two significant negatives for most runners, but in Langer Dan’s case, they may not matter at all.
