If Dan Skelton’s time to scale jump racing’s summit has finally arrived, horses such as Panic Attack, a nine-year-old mare and the trainer’s first winner of the Paddy Power Gold Cup, will feel as significant as Grade One victories when it comes to the final reckoning.
All but three or four of the dozen runners in Saturday’s race, the first big handicap chase of the season, were still in with a chance as they ran down the hill for the final time, but it was Panic Attack, at 6-1, who found the better turn of foot from the last after jumping it half a length behind Vicenzo, the favourite.
