Good Impression made at Fakenham as trainer Dai Burchell eyes retirement

Monday: Fakenham

Good Impression lived up to his name to land a poignant success at Fakenham when handing trainer Dai Burchell one of the final winners of his illustrious training career.

The seven-year-old picked up his third success for the Welsh trainer with a comfortable win in the 2m novice handicap hurdle under Ben Jones and could be set for a quick turnaround to become one of the 84-year-old trainer's last runners before retirement at the end of the month.

"We've laid him out for the last couple of weeks to come here because he just couldn't get into 0-100s with his handicap mark, but he did it well," the winning trainer told Sky Sports Racing.

"It takes over four hours to get here but there were crashes and hold-ups everywhere.

"Uttoxeter [January 29] will probably be the last runners for me and we've got this horse pencilled in for that meeting."

Burchell, who turns 85 on February 4, will hand in his licence after almost 40 years training in a career that included an award for Lifetime Achievement at the Welsh Racing Awards in 2018.

Star performance

Lucy Wadham continued her stellar record at Fakenham as she landed a double at her most successful track, headlined by the success of Somekindofstar in the feature 2m½f handicap chase.

The win was another welcome success for jockey Jack Quinlan, who arrived at the Monday fixture fresh from success in the Lanzarote Hurdle with Cobblers Dream, before Mistral Nell sealed the Wadham double under Bryony Frost in the mares' bumper.

Results, replays and analysis

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