No complacency for runaway trainers' title leader Dan Skelton as Grand National looms

With a near £790,000 lead and less than five weeks of the season remaining, Dan Skelton is a 1-10 shot to claim his first British trainers' championship, but with £1 million on offer in the Randox Grand National the long-time title race leader admitted he was sweating the result of the world's richest chase.

Skelton led the trainers' championship last year heading into Aintree but it is a case of once bitten twice shy as victory for Willie Mullins turned the title race on its head – and Skelton said he would only be able to breathe easier once the National had been decided.

"I got some manners put on me last year by the Grand National," said Skelton, who is without a runner in this year's contest. "Last year Willie winning the race put him in a position where he was in front and he wasn't going to lose that lead. If he had finished second and picked up £200,000 and not £500,000, how hard would he have gone after Aintree? You don't know.