Fakenham Course Guide

Left handed, very sharp, with a short run-in on both courses. The tightest jumps track in the country and, in theory, ideal for handy, front-running types as opposed to long-striding gallopers, though underfoot conditions are usually more testing than advertised and races often strongly-run, too, resulting in the emphasis being much more on stamina than might be expected. As a result, there is a fairly high proportion of casualties over fences for a minor track.

Plenty of people think of Fakenham as being a very sharp track and, to some extent, that’s true. It is sharp, there’s no doubt about that, but you still need a horse who gets the trip really well. As a jockey, you find that being on a quick jumper makes an awful lot of difference, because if you’re on one that takes a bit of time in the air, you’re always playing catch-up. The price you pay for going too fast, on the other hand, is that you find it’s a long way home. Ideally, I always liked to sit and bide my time.

View from the saddle: Mick Fitzgerald