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Unfortunately, the cold weather claimed the Fakenham card, which left me with no bets on Friday.
Fakenham is a desperately unlucky track. They have to be up there with the most abandoned meetings in the UK for the jumps racing scene.
They suffer from frozen tracks, slippery bends, and the occasional waterlog. Both of the jumps meetings on Saturday will have an inspection in the morning. Hopefully, the ground is safe, and we can have some good racing on.
Siam Park 3/1 (2pt) – Sandown 12.45
I jumped on the bandwagon of the in-form Joe Tizzard stable over a month ago when I tipped up Siam Park at Plumpton.
He was tipped up at 11/4, but backed into 13/8F and won with plenty up his sleeve. The handicapper has whacked him up 7lbs for that success, which seems about right, given how impressive he was.
The higher mark and the better quality race will pose different questions for Siam Park, but I believe he'll pass them with flying colours.
There's no doubt in my mind that the best handicapped horse in the race is Siam Park. Keep Running and Vanderpoel arrive with wins, but they are on tough enough handicap marks. Gabriel's Getaway is a useful handicapper, but isn't in great form and Kotmask is on a good mark, but is also struggling.
That left me thinking Siam Park just needs to put in a solid round of jumping, and the race should be his.
He jumps well, likes good ground and has a low weight. There's very little against him, other than it being a higher graded race than previously.
Henri The Second 2/1 (1pt) – Sandown 1.15
Only a select few in this Class 3 handicap arrive in good form. Luttrell Lad and Poncho have recent wins, and Bourbali was second. But I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt for Henri The Second, who returned with a shoddy effort last time out at Doncaster.
He made his return with a run over fences at Doncaster, and he made a fair few mistakes. Chances are that he was rusty from a 260-day absence, but I also think fences aren't his cup of tea. He tried fences before in 2023, and there's a reason why they reverted back to hurdles in 2024.
He runs this track well, with two wins and some other good efforts in the places. My main concern is the ground, as he is comfortable on testing ground, but has won two bumpers on much quicker.
This race is the lowest grade of race he has been in since being able to run in handicaps over hurdles. I like the class angle in a race, and with most of the horses not being in tremendous form, I am very hopeful.
GambleAware