Fakenham & Taunton – Wednesday 27th October

Not the day I was hoping for yesterday at Chepstow as despite a few horses winning well throughout the card, there was no such luck for my selections – with a few of them running well below par and my expectations. With the action moving thick and fast, attention turns to smaller cards at Fakenham and Taunton today, and these two tracks have put up decent prize money today for their efforts, and hopefully we can back a winner.

Starting off at Fakenham, and there have been few trainers in better form than Milton Harris, who has his string in terrific order at the moment. In the 2.05 race at Fakenham, there is a nine runner juvenile hurdle and I’m very interested in the chances of Aliomanna. Milton Harris will be slightly disappointed that this horse hasn’t won two starts over hurdles from her three starts, as she fell in the lead at Perth two starts back. However, there was no missing out last time out, when winning by a huge margin of 29 lengths at Perth. That was an impressive performance and one that would outline her as a likely type to defy a penalty in this sort of contest. At a price of 9/4 with William Hill, I make her a bet. 

The 3.50 race is the concluding race on the card over 3m and is a novices handicap chase. There is a clear form pick in Achy Breaky Heart – however, he looks a little short in a line-up of this class and his jumping over fences has sometimes left a bit to be desired. Instead, I will be siding with the in-form combination of the Twiston-Davies team and the unexposed Macfin – who has often shaped like a horse better than a mark of 106 would suggest. Having been backed off the boards in his bumper debut, when finishing a close up third, this horse was slightly disappointing over hurdles. However, he did post a worthwhile second to Solwara One two starts back, and goes up in trip for his chase debut. He has the chance of being a bit better than this field and at an each way price – one should back him. He is best price of 13/2 with Paddy Power, which I think is a good each way bet. 

The final selection of the day comes from Taunton and we head west to find another each way selection in their second last race on the card, the 2m handicap hurdle for horses rated 0-100. This doesn’t look like the strongest event on paper and the fact that I’m putting up an 18 race maiden would indicate the sort of quality we’re dealing with. However, Right Destination for Fergal O’Brien simply shouldn’t be the price he is, considering some of his robust form in races at this level. He is not the sort of horse to place the most amount of trust in, as he has disappointed when well fancied before – but his second to Mascat last time out doesn’t look like bad form in the book and he has now dropped to a mark of 92. Considering he has placed in handicaps in marks in excess of 105 – this should be a chance to get back near the winners enclosure and try to force his way in. SkyBet are offering 4 places for this race, and Right Destination should be backed at 20/1 each way.