'We got beat last season, but who knows what will happen this season' - Dan Skelton relishing title battle with Paul Nicholls and Willie Mullins

Dan Skelton has admitted his red-hot start in the trainers' championship is in part a reaction to Willie Mullins pipping him to last season's title, with the dual runner-up looking to do everything in his power to land the trophy he covets.

With £447,185 in the bank by the end of September, Skelton had already won £262,920 more in prize-money than at the same stage last year – a season in which he went on to lead the title race from after the Cheltenham Festival until Aintree.

For the first time in 11 seasons with a licence Skelton finished above his mentor Paul Nicholls, only for Mullins to become the first Irish trainer in 70 years to win the British title thanks to I Am Maximus's victory in the Grand National – worth £500,000 to the winner.