PREPARATIONS are well underway at Lodge Hill as Dan and Harry Skelton look to secure more Cheltenham Festival success.

Leading their charge for glory is Champion Hurdle contender Superb Story.

Jockey Harry believes the horse has solid each-way claims in the contest on the opening day of the four-day jump racing showpiece (March 14-17).

"The Champion Hurdle is cutting up at the moment with Faugheen and Annie Power both out," said Skelton. "I think Superb Story has a solid each-way chance and the current prices (around 16/1) are a fair reflection of his chance.

"People will point to his rating (149) but he has never contested a Grade Two or Grade One hurdle. He is a bit of unknown in that respect.

"Ignoring his previous run in Galway (when pulled up), he has improved with every start and we know he likes Cheltenham. Horses have gone on from County Hurdles to running well or even winning Champion Hurdles. I think he is a Graded horse but we have to go and find out now."

Superb Story's success in last year's County Hurdle provided Harry with a maiden victory at The Festival and capped a career-best season for the 27-year-old.

Skelton enjoyed a dream start to his professional career when steering Niche Market to a shock victory in the 2009 Irish Grand National, aged just 19, but, like so many conditional riders, found life difficult after losing his claim and slumped to just eight winners in the 2012/13 campaign.

The turning point came when older brother Dan, who had spent nine years as assistant to champion trainer Paul Nicholls, took out his own licence at a state of the art training facility in the summer of 2013.

Dan immediately installed Harry as his stable jockey and the partnership has gone from strength to strength, with Superb Story's triumph headlining a century of winners for both trainer (104) and jockey (101) last season. The brothers' father is Nick Skelton, the Olympic equestrian gold medallist.

"Superb Story produced an excellent performance on the day," recalled Skelton. "It was massive to get a win for the team more than anything because it is not just me and Dan. Everyone at home works very hard. Our head girl Polly Freeman gets up at six o'clock every morning to feed Superb Story. A lot goes on behind the scenes and you need a good team of people around you."

Skelton is also excited about the chances of North Hill Harvey and highly-regarded bumper horse Cause Toujours next month.

North Hill Harvey has been kept fresh since capturing the Greatwood Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham's Open meeting in November, while Cause Toujours was an eye-catching winner on his rules debut at Warwick in December.

"North Hill Harvey is another one to look forward to in the County Hurdle. He battled well to win Greatwood and Dan has kept him fresh since. This race has been mapped out for him but we are still five weeks away, so hopefully all the horses get there okay.

"Cause Toujours has got an entry at Newbury at the weekend but, if the ground is too testing, he won't run and could go straight to the Champion Bumper. He won very impressively at Warwick and didn't come off the bridle. I gave him a little squeeze up the straight to see what I had and there was a lot of horse under me.

"We originally said we wouldn't run him at Cheltenham this year but, just with the ground the way it is at the minute, he might end up going there. He has got the head to cope with The Festival, and is a well-balanced horse so the track shouldn't be a problem either."