The Norfolk National: runner-by-runner guide and tip

Four days into the 2025-26 Jump season and we have our first regional “National” to solve. 

is one of the big days in Fakenham’s calendar and the track are going to build the sense of anticipation by making it the final race on their six-race card on Tuesday. 

It’s not the most valuable race on the card, with the David Keith Memorial Veterans' Handicap Chase carrying a first prize of £15,609. 

That has not escaped the attention of Dan Skelton, as he again starts to build a lead that, perhaps this time, will keep Willie Mullins at bay. 

Skelton has a decent strike-rate at (32 winners from 122 winners, with 56 more finishing in the frame) and he will be represented by Le Milos, winner of the Coral Gold Trophy in 2022. There cannot have been too many “Hennessy” winners to have graced one of the sharpest tracks in the land. 

Three-time course winner Tommie Beau will be waiting for him. 

Here’s a guide to the eight declared for the Norfolk National, which is restricted to horses rated no higher than 120. 

Trainer: David Pipe. RaceiQ Jump Index score: 6.5. Odds: 9-2. 

He was one of last season’s most prolific winners, chalking up seven victories. However, the handicapper is on his shoulder, with his chase rating now 35lb higher than it was at this time last year. 

Chemical Warfare’s latest win at Sedgefield was achieved despite a market drift and idling in the closing stages. The seven-year-old does have a soft spot for that track, but Fakenham is similarly sharp, so it should also appeal to him. 

Neither the trip nor ground will be a bother, but he’s probably going to need a new personal best to defy another 5lb rise. 

Trainer: Sarah Humphrey. RaceiQ Jump Index score: 7.2. Odds: 16-1. 

Sarah Humphrey, based in Cambridgeshire, has trained more winners at Fakenham (19 and counting) than she has anywhere else, and this will be the first time Milan Bridge has represented her at the track. She has described him as “lovely but lazy”. 

It may have slipped your mind that he won four races when trained by Paul Nicholls - admittedly one was a walkover - and was rated 126 when starting out in handicap chases. 

He had slipped to a mark of 110 before reviving and winning successive races at Plumpton, but he ran poorly when pulled up at Newcastle in mid-March after 258 days off. Maybe that run was needed, and it will be interesting to see which way he travels in the betting with Gavin Sheehan snapped up to ride. 

Trainer: Ella Pickard.  RaceiQ Jump Index score: 6.9.  Odds: 10-1. 

This front-runner chalked up successive wins at Exeter and Doncaster in November before going close to completing a hat-trick at Wincanton over Christmas. 

He’s edged back down to the same mark, is well served by good ground and this is an easier assignment than he was fifth at Warwick last time in a race won by a progressive rival now rated 137. 

Stans The Man has had a third wind operation since that run and will again be equipped with his usual blinkers and tongue-tie. This will be the longest trip he has tackled but he was game when once winning a 3m 2f contest over hurdles and it should be within his range. 

Trainer: James Owen. RaceiQ Jump Index score: 6.7. Odds: 8-1. 

I’ve got the album My Gift To You in my record collection. It was Alexander O’Neal’s attempt at a Christmas collective in 1988 with the funky track Sleigh Ride having Fake vibes too it. You never hear Sleigh Ride or the soothing My Gift To You given a spin during the festive period, which is a shame. But, anyway, I digress. 

The equine My Gift To You (I doubt it has anything to do with the album) ran consistently for much of last summer, gaining overdue reward when making all at Sedgefield in October. He drew clear with Breakdance Kid that day, with the runner-up going one better on his next start. 

He is likely to be sharper for his spin over hurdles at Southwell last month, when held up and returning from a four-month break, and he has a decent record for amateur rider Alex Chadwick. In addition, James Owen boasts an impressive 15 winners from his 53 Fakenham runners, and you would be £22 in profit had you backed them all blind to a £1 stake. 

The one niggle is that My Gift To You has run twice before at Fakenham and, despite winning on one occasion, his jumping has been scruffy. 

Trainer: Christian Williams. RaceiQ Jump Index score: 6.4  Odds: 100-30. 

This thorough stayer went off favourite for last year’s renewal and gave his supporters a good run for their money, but he had to settle for second. 

Planned Paradise returns rated 3lb higher, but with Charlie Maggs, who rides him for the first time, easing his burden by 5lb. 

The nine-year-old is not the most prolific – four wins from 35 races – and Fakenham is a track that favours speedier types, but he ran creditably at Cheltenham last time and the likely decent gallop should bring his stamina into play. 

Trainer: Ben Case. RaceiQ Jump Index score: 5.9.  Odds: 11-1. 

The RaceiQ data suggests the ten-year-old is the worst jumper in the line-up, although that did not stop going close over course and distance in December off a 4lb higher mark, when touched off a short head by Samourai One. 

He might have won that day had he shown the same determination as the winner, and perhaps it is no coincidence that he last got his head in front in November 2022. 

His three efforts since that near miss have been nothing to shout about, with the reapplication of cheekpieces failing to bring anything extra to the party. 

Trainer: Christian Williams. RaceiQ Jump Index score: 7.5. Odds: 5-2. 

This seven-year-old fills the eye and won with plenty spare over 3m at Southwell last time after going off the well-backed 11-10 favourite. He had been 5-1 overnight. 

He took full advantage of being pushed back up in trip that day, plus having slipped 12lb in the ratings after running in races over inadequate trips. A wind op had clearly done him no harm, either. 

I would not worry that he was pulled up in his only previous chase at Fakenham, as that contest was over 2m. He ran a blinder well at the track over hurdles 14 months ago, when having the misfortune to try and concede 16lb to Double Powerful. That rival won off a mark of 76 and is now rated 134. 

A 6lb rise for his Southwell success looks lenient, given the manner of his victory, and this longer trip may well unlock further improvement. He is the one to beat here for a trainer whose runners at the track are always to be feared. 

Trainer: Shaun Harris. RaceiQ Jump Index score: 6.0.  Odds: 5-1. 

Ali Star Bert is something of a Southwell specialist, with his record at the track over fences reading 2121222321. You cannot quibble with that, although his latest win there was gained in fortuitous circumstances. 

His record away from Southwell is nothing like so impressive, with his past four efforts at other tracks reading UPPP. 

It will be interesting to see what he makes of Fakenham but, even if he imagines he’s at Southwell, the handicapper has been in charge for the past year. The assessor has not even raised him for his win last time, when he ended up beating one other finisher who idled away his chance. 

A competitive race of its type, and you can come at it from different angles. Christian Williams holds a strong hand, with Fever Dream looking the one to beat and Planned Paradise likely to make a bold bid to go one better than last year. Stans The Man may be best of the rest. .