NATIONAL WINNER CHARLIE LOOKING FOR A NEW YEAR’S DAY MONEYSPINNER
Man of the moment Charlie Hammond teams up with regular Fakenham winning trainer Stuart Edmunds in a bid to land the £35,000 Gamble Plant Norfolk Ltd Grand Prix Handicap Hurdle at the north Norfolk course’s New Year’s Day meeting.
Jockey Hammond won at Aintree on Boxing Day, two days later rode Val Dancer to take the £85,000 Welsh Grand National at Chepstow and followed that with victory in Doncaster’s Yorkshire Silver Vase the next afternoon.
Hammond has been booked by Edmunds to partner Bluegrass in the 2.35pm nine-runner contest. The six-year-old gelding is in great form having won at Huntingdon in December after scoring at Fakenham in November.
He faces stiff competition from Secret Des Dieux, like Bluegrass bidding for a hat-trick. Trained by another regular Fakenham winning trainer in Newmarket’s James Owen, Secret Des Dieux, won at Hereford in December to follow up a Fakenham success in November.
Owen also has Hecouldbetheone in the line-up under Shane Fenelon, a double Fontwell scorer in the summer, while another with high hopes is Andy Irvine’s Godot. Philip Armson rides the gelding, successful at Lingfield a week before Christmas.
Harry Bannister enjoys his riding days at Fakenham and looks to have a chance of a treble. He rides Gazette Bourgeoise for Ben Case in the 12.15pm Queen Boudicca Last Chance to Qualify Mares’ Chase, a £20,000 contest. The mare has not won in nine chases but was runner-up at Fakenham in October.
Main rival is Hammond’s mount Micks Jet for trainer Phil Kirby, that mare making her chasing debut.
Bannister has Zafaan in the 12.50pm maiden hurdle, the gelding third on hurdling debut at Southwell in December. Berkshire Lad looks a threat though, Oliver Signy’s gelding making a hurdling debut after finishing third on the flat at Sedgefield in October.
Bannister’s best chance may come in the 3.10pm finale on Magical Arthur in the three-miles handicap hurdle. The Jenny Candlish trained gelding won at Plumpton and Kempton as well as finishing runner-up at Southwell.
The action begins with 10 in the 11.45am Happy New Year from Gamble Plant Amateur Jockeys’ Hurdle in which Star Legend, a winner for James Owen at the previous Fakenham meeting, tries to defy a seven-pound penalty for that win.
Fergal O’Brien’s Leicester winner Barra Blue is likely favourite for the 1.25pm mares’ novice hurdle while the 2pm Racing TV Novice Chase sees a runner-up from Fakenham’s previous meeting, Hardy Buck, try again in a race in which Ffos Las runner-up One Last Glance may start favourite for Tom Gretton.
