KEMPTON PARK BOXING DAY 'KING GEORGE VI' MEETING 2016

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2016

The year feels like it's flown by once again and here we are looking at the end of December with our season on the flat already finished at Kempton but we return over the jumps for one more big meeting. So on Boxing Day the NH meeting at Kempton Park will be our final event till next year comes around and it of course will feature King George VI Chase. 

Will Cue Card be able to repeat his win of last year win, and will Willie Mullins send over another of his top horses to contest this Grade 1 contest (nope it would seem not). There are of course plenty of supporting events including the Feltham Novices Chase won last year by Lizzie Kelly on Tea for Two and the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle which was won by Faugheen before his season was ended by injury.

We will have a 6 race card on Monday, plenty of quality events leading up to the King George VI itself at 3:10pm. 

Here are our thoughts and selections for the rest of the card;

12:55 William Hill On Your Mobile Novices' Hurdle 
(4yo+, Class 2, 2m)

We kick off the Boxing day meeting with a decent novice hurdle, although just the eight runners declared over the weekend we can some good competition with the major yards represented as expected. 

JENKINS seems to be the likely favourite having won a maiden hurdle at Newbury and from the strong Henderson yard, could be odds on so the value option could be GLARING with Richard Johnson in the saddle.  

13:30 William Hill Winter Festival Novices' Limited Handicap Chase 
(4yo+, Class 3, 2m 4f 110y)

Tricky little handicap chase now with just the seven declared so each-way options are limited. We will take two against the field in this with GOLD PRESENT and POKER SCHOOL both in decent form and should go well again here. 

14:05 Kauto Star Novices' Chase (In Memory Of Nigel Clark) -- Formerly The Feltham Novices' Chase 
(Grade 1) (4yo+, Class 1, 3m)

We've got 10 declared for the Grade 1 Feltham Novices Chase, they might keep messing about with the name of these contests but for me it'll always be the Feltham. Our winner from last year TEA FOR TWO will now be going for the King George race later so it does often bring forward a future star (Coneygree won this before taking the Gold Cup too). 

Not too many Irish raiders this year which might be down to the terrible weather being experienced so the fact that Tony Martin has sent over ANIBALE FLY who has run well this term even in his most recent defeat at Fairyhouse. 

The home challenge is dominated by Paul Nicholls with two, PRESENT MAN / FRODON and Nicky Henderson is also double handed with CARACCI APACHE / MIGHT BITE.

14:40 Williamhill.com Christmas Hurdle 
(Grade 1) (4yo+, Class 1, 2m)

A small but select field of five declared for the major supporting race on King George Day, this Grade 1 hurdle has often been the main race for the English Champion Hurdle hopes though recently the Irish have come over and plundered. No Irish representative this year and looks like a match between THE NEW ONE and YANWORTH. 

THE NEW ONE was a comfortable winner over My Tent or Yours at Cheltenham a few weeks ago and should be too good again. Goes well here and is the one to beat at Xmas before being well beaten once he returns to Cheltenham in March for the big one.

15:15 William Hill King George VI Chase 
(Grade 1) (4yo+, Class 1, 3m)

The feature race now and a strong but select field as you would expect with most in with a shout of the crown. Last years victor CUE CARD looks the likely favourite with the form in the book, his chance is obvious but the fly in the ointment is provided by stablemate THISTLECRACK. This top class staying hurdler has taken well to fences and rather than going for the Feltham Chase earlier in the card is bumped straight into top class company. Wouldn't be the biggest shock if he takes this, but it's his first real test for a while. 

Of the remaining runners Silviniaco Conti is not the horse that won this in 2013 and 2014 and has been beaten comprehensively by Cue Card in the Betfair Chase, and Josses Hill comfortably beat last year’s Feltham Novices winner Tea For Two in the Peterborough Chase at Huntingdon but there are stamina concerns here.


15:45 William Hill World Darts Championship Handicap Hurdle 
(3yo+, Class 3, 2m 5f)

Our finale for this year is a handicap hurdle, has 16 declared and I guarantee at least one will drop out to spoil the 4 places here. 

Plenty with chances, you shouldn't ignore the Pipe horses in handicaps and they have DELL ARCA at 16/1 here might have joint top weight but Tom Scu can bring about some improvement after a decent lay off and catching him fresh could be the best time. 

Gary Moore won this last year and has two outsiders at the bottom end of the weights today, so have a look at KING COOL and MR FICKLE in the place markets if there's still 4 places on offer both about 50/1 and having been racing around Towcester might prefer this flat track closer to home. 

If INSTANT KARMA stays this new trip could be a rare jumps winner for Michael Bell.

Enjoy your Boxing Day and all the best for the end of the year for those of you disappointed that we didn't have a White Christmas here's what it would have looked like.

We'll be back with a new season in January 2017. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL

A brief note to wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas, may you celebrate the end of this year with your family and friends. 

One of the real joys during this time of year is the opportunity to say "Thank You" to friends and family for the year gone by and to wish you all the very best for the New Year ahead! May I therefore share a prayer that this will bring you so much love, health and happiness, and even if you been a little naughty may Santa still bring you many goodies to enjoy. Spare a little thought for those less fortunate, this is truly a time for reflection and remembrance too. 

Please remember that life is only as good as you make it so get out there and have a bloody good one!

See you next year!

KEMPTON PARK RACES 2016 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #39 14th DECEMBER

May I take this opportunity to add in a short message of condolence following the recent news of the passing of Walter Swinburn. Known in racing as The Choirboy he will of course be forever remembered for his association with Shergar and their Derby victory in 1981, have a look at how he coasted home on YouTube, but the best race I remember him for was his third Derby win in 1995 on Lammtarra it was a thrilling race and a fitting tribute to his late trainer Alex Scott who had been murdered by one of his stable staff, a remarkable combination and much like the late Pat Eddery this boy was absolute class. 

RIP Wally, there's none like you now. 


Mid December now and the final month for 2016 will see us conclude our year long blog at Kempton Park on Boxing Day for the King George meeting which will be the only one we cover that is NOT on a Wednesday night. Feels appropriate to end on a big one though and to finish 2016 with a decent card albeit over the jumps. This issue is our 39th meeting of the season and we continue to keep ourselves in front. Add that to the success of the season long "lay bets" too which has been impressive given they are generally short price favourites.

The fact that all of our results are declared to SP I think it's clear we would be much further ahead to advanced prices. We crack on with our regular Wednesday nights at Kempton all the way through until the years end. The season has seen us ebb and flow, last week we failed to find a winner and thus had to suffer a small loss which has reduced our profit down to just +9.01 points. All being equal we can find some more winners and now continue through into the turn of the year.

As always our focus will be on the handicap contests for each meeting but will occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1pt level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds but for the purpose of the results we record to SP.

We will also keep up with our occasional lay opportunity of short priced favourites, we failed with our last LAY bets which isn't bad when most are short prices as a result we have a success rate of 17 from 22. Results for this will be kept separately too and hopefully we can remain at +77% for the rest of the year.

This week there's another eight race card on offer, we have only the four handicap contests to review and tonight's action will commence at 16:05 with a 6f Maiden contest. 

Here is a link to this weeks race card; 
EVENING RACE CARD

The going on the polytrack surface is described as Standard to slow and the current weather forecast is for a cold dry day with a max temperature of approx 9C when the meeting gets underway and remain cold during the evening so don't forget your hat, gloves and scarf.

Here are our selections for this evening's handicap races;

18:10 -- 1m Handicap.
A dozen declared for our first handicap of the evening, not great on quality though several have some wins behind them which helps, our first selection is FREIGHT TRAIN [12th 50/1] who has run well in slightly better events than this and if the absence is not an issue could go well at a price. 

Along with RUSSIAN REWARD [9th 9/2] who is usually thereabouts except when upped in class, can front run too.

18:40 -- 7f Fillies Handicap.
The ladies are up next and just the eight for us to view in this contest, both RIO'S CLIFFS and PALENVILLE have shown consistent place form but look a little one paced and are overlooked for the win tonight. 

We side with LUCYMAI [5th 15/2] who has been off for a while but does seem to run best fresh, has the assistance of Robert Winston and is priced about 10/1 which is of interest. Add that one with MISS BLONDELL [Non Runner] who is a course and distance winner drawn low and has the benefit of a low weight.

19:10 -- 6f Fillies Handicap.
A field of 11 ladies for us tonight, one I do want to side with is Jamie Osborne's CAMDORA [6th 6/1], a winner twice around Chelmsford does run well for Timmy Murphy and worth a chance around here. 

BE ROYALE [8th 9/4] went close for us before a few weeks ago and can be given another chance in an average contest.

19:40 -- 2m Handicap.
We conclude tonight with another stayers contest with a maximum field of 14 declared. Half the field are aged 7 or over and will be discarded in favour of something younger with a little more opportunity, though this is low grade stuff so some luck might be required too. 

HIORNE TOWER [Non Runner] could be one to keep an eye on, winner at Chelmsford and placed in few events around Lingfield, he along with the bottom weight OYSTER CARD [6th 4/1] might make most of the weight concession from the field although is still a maiden and therefore comes with some risk. 

Staked -- 8 points
Returns -- 2 points (N/Rs so far).

Results for tonight will be updated through the evening looking to add to the current overall profit figure +9.01.

Alas no joy tonight, couple of non runners meaning a loss of 6 points so we end the Wednesday nights on a +3.01 profit figure. We will reset things for the start of the 2017 calendar. 

Lays -- 17/22. 

This was the final Wednesday night meeting for 2016, but we WILL be back for more during 2017. However before we end there will be a one off special for the Boxing Day King George meeting on Monday 26th December.

MK FRANCHISE v AFC WIMBLEDON (THE TRUE DONS)

KICK OFF 1pm SATURDAY 10th DECEMBER

REMEMBER -- YOU ARE JUST A SMELLY FRANCHISE. 

WE ARE THE REAL DONS, AND IT ONLY TOOK US 9 YEARS !! 

Not going to be at the match naturally I have no desire to visit their empty soulless stadium, but fair play to those that will and support the side. 

No coverage of this match though plenty of newspaper column inches which is 99% in our favour and hardly mention them at all (good). The game itself kicks off a bit early at 1pm though not being covered on Live TV at all, whatever the result we are still above them both in the league table and of course we always will be morally. 

The Victory is already ours. 

"AFC Wimbledon is the greatest expression of fan power in football"

Even Robbie Savage praised us in his newspaper column this weekend. 

KEMPTON PARK RACES 2016 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #38 7th DECEMBER

Found ourselves in December now and the final month for 2016 will see us end up at Kempton on Boxing Day for the King George meeting which will be the only one not on a Wednesday night, but it's a big one and seems right to finish 2016 with a decent card. This is our 38th meeting of the season and we continue to keep ourselves in front. Add that to the success of the season long "lay bets" too which has been impressive given they are generally short price favourites.

The fact that our results are declared to SP I think it's clear we would be much further ahead to advanced prices. We crack on with our regular Wednesday nights at Kempton all the way through until the years end. The season has seen us ebb and flow, last week we failed to find a winner and thus had to suffer a small loss which has reduced our profit down to just +14.01 points. All being equal we can find some more winners and now continue through into the turn of the year.

As always our focus will be on the handicap contests for each meeting but will occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too. Keeping records of our endeavors to a 1pt level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds but for the purpose of the results we record to SP.

We will also keep up with our occasional lay opportunity of short priced favourites, we failed with our last LAY bet [we've only had three failures all season] which isn't bad when most are short prices as a result we have a success rate of 17 from 20. Results for this will be kept separately too and hopefully we can remain at +85% for the rest of the year.

This week there's another eight race card on offer, we have only the three handicap contests to review and tonight's action will commence at 15:45 with a 6f Maiden contest. 

Here is a link to this weeks race card; EVENING RACE CARD

The going on the polytrack surface is described as Standard and the current weather forecast is for a dry day with a max temperature of above average 13C when the meeting gets underway and remain cold but dry during the evening. The weather is predictable for Winter is upon us now and it's time to get the gloves and jumpers out, and it'll be time for the King George meeting too in a month.

Here are our selections for this evening's handicap races;

18:15 -- 7f Handicap (3yo).
Our handicaps come at the end of an eight race card dominated by maiden events, but that's not unusual at the end of the year where more horses are trying to drop their maiden tag within the season. 

So just the field of 9 declared for this event limited to three year olds, both MUSIC MAJOR [3rd 5/2] and GARTER [2nd 4/1] have the best available form here and it would be a surprise if they are not fighting out the finish.

18:45 -- 1m 3f Handicap.
Big field for this competitive event, hard to know which of the three joint top weights will fare best but can get them all beat with INNISCASTLE LAD [8th 7/1] a 4yo who has won 5 contests including one on the AW (Lingfield). Pair that one with DAISY BERE [Non Runner] who won her maiden at Southwell at 66/1 and has since been on the AW at Newcastle, could be a good price again here tonight.

19:15 -- 2m Handicap.
We conclude tonight's action with a stayers event over the two miles and with 13 declared they should make it a decent pace. Top weight ALBERTA [12th 25/1] has been tried over hurdles and staying flat races with mixed success, could be worth another try on the flat having won at Epsom earlier in the year. 

The other interesting one is towards the bottom of the weights and that is BRACKEN BRAE [6th 20/1] who was staying on to win over 1m 5f at Chelmsford last time having won four times at that trip it's clearly no fluke and there is well worth a go over this longer trip tonight. 

Staked -- 6 points
Returns -- 1 point with the Non Runner and one race to come.

Results for tonight will be updated through the evening looking to add to the current overall profit figure +14.01.
Alas no joy tonight, dropped 5 more points so down to +9.01.

Lays -- 17/22. 
Couple of lays in the maiden events tonight;

15:45 6f Maiden -- MEDAHIM (Richard Hannon trained horses usually better for their opening run and plenty of competition tonight, is priced 2/1F and looks too short)
 -- Yes this did WIN at 12/1 so was far too huge a price for us to have been as a lay bet tonight. 

17:15 1m Maiden -- INTERMODAL (Didn't seem to get home over a mile on debut and while entitled to improve for the run might take a few races to find his feet.) WIN 11/4F - by a whisker it won that's very annoying still you can't win them all (well looks like we did eh). 

Our next Wednesday evening meeting at this course will be on 14th December, it's back to a regular weekly fixture till the end of the year so see you next week.

FA CUP THIRD ROUND DRAW.

This Monday night we will have the draw for the 3rd Round of this seasons FA Cup. Was almost going to write about how AFC Wimbledon had made a real mess of things at 3-0 down on Sunday to non league Curzon Ashton, but an amazing spell of 3 goals in a little over 2 minutes linked with a last gasp winner from Tom Elliott made it a remarkable 4-3 win against the non league side and The Dons are therefore still in with a chance of a money spinning tie in round three.

We will update here on Monday night with the details of the 3rd round draw while it's being made which will begin shortly after 7pm on Monday evening. Former players Ian Wright and Steven Gerrard will be on hand to perform the draw out of the 'hat'. 

AFC Wimbledon have been allocated ball number 45.

Third Round Draw

     IPSWICH TOWN  v  LINCOLN / OLDHAM

     BARROW  v  ROCHDALE

     MANCHESTER UNITED  v  READING

     HULL CITY  v  SWANSEA CITY

     SUNDERLAND  v  BURNLEY

     QPR  v  BLACKBURN ROVERS

     MILLWALL  v  AFC BOURNEMOUTH

     WEST HAM UNITED  v  MANCHESTER CITY

     BRIGHTON  v  MK DONS / CHARLTON

     BLACKPOOL  v  BARNSLEY

     WIGAN ATHLETIC  v  NOTTINGHAM FOREST

     BIRMINGHAM CITY  v  NEWCASTLE UNITED

     CHELSEA  v  NOTTS COUNTY / PETERBOROUGH

     MIDDLESBROUGH  v  SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

     WEST BROM  v  DERBY COUNTY

     EVERTON  v  LEICESTER CITY

     LIVERPOOL  v  NEWPORT C / PLYMOUTH ARGYLE

     WYCOMBE WANDERERS  v  NORTHAMPTON / STOURBRIDGE

     WATFORD  v  BURTON ALBION

     PRESTON NORTH END  v  ARSENAL

     CARDIFF CITY  v  FULHAM

     STOKE CITY  v  WOLVES

     CAMBRIDGE UNITED  v  LEEDS UNITED

     BRISTOL CITY  v  SHREWSBURY / FLEETWOOD

     HUDDERSFIELD TOWN  v  PORT VALE

     TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR  v  ASTON VILLA

     BRENTFORD  v  HALIFAX TOWN / EASTLEIGH

     BOLTON WANDERERS  v  CRYSTAL PALACE

     NORWICH CITY  v  SOUTHAMPTON

     SUTTON UNITED  v  AFC WIMBLEDON 

     ACCRINGTON STANLEY  v  LUTON TOWN

     ROTHERHAM UNITED  v  OXFORD U / MACCESFIELD

Ties to be played over the weekend of 6th - 9th January.

Reaction;

Well it's an away tie for the Dons against SUTTON UNITED. A significant match in our history since it was Sutton who were our first ever opponents when we had to reform as AFC Wimbledon so not far to go and a good chance to progress to round four you would hope. 

FA CUP 2nd ROUND -- CURZON ASHTON 3 vs 4 AFC WIMBLEDON (Sunday 4th December)

Having finished off BURY in Round One (and in the league) with a thumping 5-0 win at home in the replay we are drawn away to Non League outfit CURZON ASHTON. Yeah I had to look that up too and no it's not Ashton Kutcher or Curzon from Deep Space Nine, but a team sitting 16th in the National League North division. The Dons will be clear favourites to progress forward into round three but if anyone thinks upsets can't happen really hasn't been paying attention lately. 

Located in Ashton-under-Lyne their 4,000 capacity home ground Tameside Stadium should be rocking when the FA Cup comes to town. The match has been moved to Sunday lunchtime, for it's LIVE on BT Sport.  

LIVE ON BT SPORT
SUNDAY 4th DECEMBER
12:00 Kick Off

Curzon Ashton have a poor home record this season so far winning only one game, but as this is effectively their Cup Final and on Live TV their players ought to be fired up and I fully expect a difficult first half of football. If the Dons can strike early things should settle down, but go behind and everyone will be expecting an upset. This will be an excellent opportunity to progress to the third round and the potential for a glamour tie and possibility of more funds for the playing budget or the stadium move. 

Updates will be published with team news and more as and when it comes through. 

Line Ups (Confirmed);

AFC WIMBLEDON

Odds -- 4/5 (Stan James) 

Shea (Gk),  Fuller (c), Robertson,  Robinson,  Meades,  Bullman,    Parrett,  Poleon,  Reeves,  Taylor,  Elliott

Subs – McDonnell (Gk),  Francomb,  Whelpdale,  Beere,  Kelly,  Barnett,  Owens

CURZON ASHTON
Odds -- 4/1 (Betfred) 

Burton (Gk),  Woodford,  Hunt,  Hampson,  Guest,  Brown,  Howard,  Clark,  Baillie,  Morgan,  Cummins 

Subs – Cameron Mason (Gk),  Rowney,  Tomsett,  Wright,  Ennis,  Gorman,  Hall



H/T Score – 2 - 0

First Half Comment;
A perfect minute silence was observed before kick off and The Dons wearing their Green/Black away strip will kick off and get us away for this tie. Come on you Dons. 

And OMG 30 seconds is all it took for Adam Morgan to give the home side the lead with a screamer from 30 yards out which gave keeper James Shea no chance at all. Dons try and strike back immediately and Poleon misses from close in, unbelievable start to this match. 

And it continues, CA could have had a penalty and although the Dons have a few corners there's no threat to the keeper so it was no real surprise when Adam Morgan scored their second after 21 minutes a close range finish with some poor defending. Really need to up our game now before half time.

F/T Score – 3 - 4

Match Summary;
Curzon Ashton get the second half underway and continue to keep AFC Wimbledon at bay, this half will be very frustrating as long as it remains 2-0. And despite a few half chances including a good save by their keeper it wasn't a big surprise when CA went 3-0 ahead on the break and it's that man again Adam Morgan who taps in his hat-trick. Well done son take a bow. 

Dons completely out played and never in this it would seem ... and THEN this happened. First of all Tom Elliott scores a consolation goal to make it 3-1 I still thought it was too little too late ... one minute later we are 3-2 from Dominic Poleon .... in with a chance but it doesn't stop there when less than a minute later we are 3-3 with a header from Tyrone Barnett what a turn around in about 3 mins and suddenly the Dons are looking to win it. 

AND WIN IT THEY DID with the last attack of the match, a long punted free kick from the half way line finds Tom Elliott who sends a looping header into the far corner to send the Dons into round three. 

My Man of the Match – Adam Morgan (Curzon Ashton).

Referee  – James Adcock.

Attendance –  1,731.

Dons next fixture:
vs Franchise Scum FC [Away]
League One Saturday 10th December 3:00pm