Fakenham and Plumpton

The big guns are out today at Fakenham, where both Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson saddle several runners, and it will be a surprise of they both return home empty-handed. Nicholls´ best chance would appear to be Massasoit (Christian Williams) in the beginners chase at 15.30 CET, while Henderson can take the novice hurdle at 16.00 with Kerada (though Hellfire Club, looking the winner when he fell at the last last time could be a big danger) and the handicap chase at 16.30 with Zanzibar Boy, both ridden by Barry Geraghty.

The two trainers go head to head in the novice chase at 15.00 with Five Dream (Nicholls/ Williams) and German-bred First Point (Henderson/ Geraghty), but another German-bred here Victoria´s Groom (Lucy Wadham/ Leighton Aspell) also has a chance. The most interesting German-bred here is Barney Curley´s Agapanthus (Paul Moloney); the one-time Schlenderhan classic hope runs in the opening maiden hurdle at 14.30. His recent efforts on the flat have been very disappointing, so it hard to know how he will fare on his first race over sticks.

The German-bred with the best prospects today is however Salden Licht (Alan King/ Robert Thornton) in the novice hurdle at 14.40 at Plumpton. He was listed class on the flat for André Fabre and Baron Ullmann, and made an excellent start over hurdles for his new connections. However there are two factors against him today; one is the continuing poor stable form, the other the fact that he is set to give away lots of weight, notably 17lbs to the 4yo Hunterview (David Pipe/Tom Scudamore), who was also pretty useful on the flat. Under the circumstances we prefer the latter, who could kickstart a successful day for the Pipe/ Scudamore combination, who also have good chances with Epee Celeste, another 4yo getting weight from older horses, in the novice hurdle at 15.40, Painter Man, top-weight in the handicap chase at 16.10 and The Pious Prince in the staying handicap chase half an hour later.