Skeleton won't be rattled by the cold

It would be unlikely after three schooling sessions if Fanshawe had not tried to compare Hors La Loi with a certain Royal Gait, another French import who, with Fanshawe still a raw recruit to training, won the 1992 Champion Hurdle.

Initial soundings suggest the two horses are equally spectacular over hurdles. Like Royal Gait, Hors La Loi has already won at the Cheltenham Festival, if as a novice on a brief sojourn with Martin Pipe, and last year he ran second for Doumen to the imperious and invincible Istabraq.

"They are very different horses," Fanshawe ventured, "but both spectacular over hurdles, Royal Gait more so at home."

If the bespectacled, sometimes distant figure of Fanshawe arrives at Cheltenham on Champion Hurdle day he could well find his equal in the winner's enclosure.

A shade more abstemious than Botham, in outlook, appearance and demeanour, Fanshawe has the makings of another Aidan O'Brien, the Irishman who will seeking to make racing history by saddling Istabraq to win a fourth successive Champion Hurdle.

With Istabraq already odds on in places, the Champion could do with a few challengers in single-figure odds to spice up the race and in Hors La Loi lies a prime candidate.

"We will have to get his first run out of the way before the season takes shape." Fanshawe added. "But what I wouldn't be doing is taking even money about any race that was still three months away. That is extremely brave."

First run is most probably the Bonusprint Bula Hurdle at Cheltenham this Saturday with Gold Cup winner Andrew Thornton in the saddle on a ride previously reserved for Dean Gallagher, who is serving a drugs ban until 1 January.

Thoughts of Cheltenham are usually as far removed from Fanshawe's mind as Christmas shopping, yet the desire to try something different from training well-bred Flat horses is clearly deeply ingrained.

Perhaps it grew in those formative years with Sir Michael Stoute, who trained his sole hurdler Kribensis to win the 1990 Champion Hurdle during Fanshawe's tenure as assistant.

Perhaps it was the ingrained trait spotted by Bill Gredley, the millionaire landowner who sent Fanshawe one of his first Flat successes, Environment Friend, because: "I was attracted by his eccentricity."

Perhaps it was the brush with death that did it. A broken neck in a point-to-point fall in 1989 very nearly proved fatal, leaving Fanshawe in traction for weeks and helping focus the mind on safer career paths.

Whatever the impetus, drawing Fanshawe into more animated conversation is simply a matter of mentioning the Melbourne Cup.

No British trainer has won the race but few have come as close as he - the man who once refused a working trip to California because Britain was where he wanted to train so what was the point of going abroad.

A year after Travelmate ran a fine fifth, Arctic Owl was the representative from Pegasus Stables in Newmarket for last month's race Down Under and although finishing fifth it was considered a run of such distinction that it has further stoked Fanshawe's appetite for the race.

"I really want to win that race," he said with a passion. "The buzz has to be experienced to be believed. At Cheltenham they have 50,000 a day. You want to try 120,000!

"It's all beautifully organised and every year the Aussie press love to stir up the local trainers into controversy about the foreign runners. As I said to Bart Cummings, 'you've won the race 11 times, so why not give us a go'. It's a cliche but the world is getting smaller for racehorse trainers."

Breathing life into The Skeleton in the depths of winter is easier than it seems.

Tony Smurthwaite is a writer for the Racing Post