Fakenham best bet: Haafapiece ready to roll back the years at favourite venue

15:00 Fakenham: Gamble Plant Norfolk Ltd Grand Prix Handicap Hurdle (2 miles 4 furlongs)  

Fakenham is the tightest National Hunt track in the country, but Haafapiece who loves this specialist circuit, recording figures of 32123 in his previous visits to the Norfolk venue.

His course-distance win here came in this very race three seasons ago (on good-soft) and he showed that he was certainly no back number at the age of ten by finishing 2nd/15 in an extremely competitive renewal of the race last year (on soft).

That brought his course-distance figures to 212, and he looks an enticing proposition today because he runs off a mark of 120, which is two pounds lower than for last season’s contest and five lower than when he won it from nine rivals two seasons earlier.

The fact that he failed to complete at Wetherby last time out isn’t a cause for concern (his jockey thought there was something amiss and pulled him up) because he had run very well there less than two weeks previously on his seasonal debut.

Suggested bet: Haafapiece in the 15:00 at Fakenham

Tip advised by Steve Jones who runs CD Systems Daily Bargain on Tipstrr

Indeed, he had run well below par on his lead-up to this race last season but that didn’t make any difference when he got back on this circuit.

There were 14 others in opposition last year and the only one to beat him was Irish Hill, the race favourite, who then went on to win a 12-runner Class 2 at Ascot off six pounds higher next time, after which he was rated 134 (12 pounds higher than when beating Haafapiece, who in turn is now two pounds lower).

In finishing second behind Irish Hill, Haafapiece pulled five lengths clear of the rest of the field, so he would have won this prize easily for a second time but for the presence of that extremely well-handicapped winner.

It is unlikely that any of today’s much smaller bunch of rivals are as progressive and well-handicapped as Irish Hill was last term, so Haafapiece looks all set for another big run in this event.

Of the others, it’s no surprise to see El Jefe at the head of the early market as he bids to complete a four-timer following three successive wins at Sedgefield and Haydock.

They were all achieved under today’s rider, Paul O'Brien, and it is significant that he couldn’t use his claim for the latest of those wins, which means that El Jefe is effectively only three pounds higher than for that easy three-length  Haydock success.

Provided the seven-year-old can handle this even sharper circuit, then he must be a major player because this handicap doesn’t look any stronger than the one at Haydock, even though it is advertised as a grade higher.

Next best bet: El Jefe in the 15:00 at Fakenham

 

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