Born in Warwickshire on September 20, 1989, Harry Skelton is the son of Olympic showjumper Nick Skelton and the younger brother of Dan Skelton, a hugely successful National Hunt trainer based at Alcester, Warwickshire, to whom he is nowadays stable jockey. Having previously ridden out for Reg Hollinshead, Harry Skelton joined Richard Hannon straight from school but, having grown too heavy to ride on the Flat, moved on to Paul Nicholls in Ditcheat, Somerset, where he would spend nine years before teaming up with his brother.
Skelton rode his first winner – which he said he remembers “as clear as day” – Temper Lad, trained by Jimmy Frost, in a conditional jockeys’ selling handicap hurdle at Exeter on October 10, 2007. Highlights of his early career included winning the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Niche Market, trained by Bob Buckler, on April 13, 2009; aged 19 years, 6 months and 24 days, Skelton became the youngest jockey ever to do so.
Skelton credits his brother Dan with getting his career “back on track” and, indeed, it was the latter who saddled his first Cheltenham Festival winner, Suberb Story, in the Vincent O’Brien County Handicap Hurdle on March 18, 2016. Dan Skelton also saddled his first Grade 1 winner, Roksana, in the David Nicholson Mares’ Hurdle back at the Festival on March 12, 2009. At the last count, Harry Skelton had 15 Grade 1 winners to his name, with Politologue, trained by Paul Nicholls, in the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2020, Grey Dawning in the Golden Miller Novices’ Chase and Protekorat in the Ryanair Chase in 2024 and The New Lion in the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle in 2025 among his 10 Cheltenham Festival winners; the last three named were all trained by his brother.
In 2020/21, Harry Skelton rode 152 winners and was crowned British Champion Jump Jockey for the first, and so far only, time. Reflecting on his maiden jockeys’ title, he said, “As a child growing up and from when I came into racing it’s all I ever wanted to achieve. It’ll take a while for it to sink in properly, but it’s a big weight off the shoulders.” Skelton reached the milestone of 1,000 career winners – at the time of writing, he is closing in on 1,500 – on Darisa Queen, fittingly trained by his brother, in a handicap hurdle at Stratford on October 28, 2021.