KEMPTON PARK RACING 2020 MEETING #10 TUESDAY 23rd JUNE

Welcome to Kempton Park racecourse here for a rare Tuesday night meeting as we return to regular action on the all weather flat track under the lights but behind closed doors for the time being. This is the second race here since March but we will keep blogging throughout 2020 till the end of the year.

British horse racing has safely returned behind closed doors as part of a phased return for the sport. In doing so we will be introducing strict protocols designed to safeguard everyone's health and well being and to ensure that racing can take place safely behind closed doors. These measures have been developed in consultation with government and public health officials to help keep those attending safe and include:

• A three stage health check that all attendees on courses will have to pass;
• Strict social distancing measures on course
• Detailed new guidance for all participants on how they will have to do things differently on course in order that we can race safely and mitigate any risks.

In addition the courses are reducing the use of any medical or NHS services to a minimum, acting responsibly by using private ambulances, hospitals and medics – to protect the NHS. For those working at an event, including officials, racecourse staff and participants, the implementation of these guidelines ensures that racing will take place in a more controlled environment than most day-to-day activities.

Back to the horse racing all results here are reported to 1pt at Starting Prices (SP) despite a win in meeting #9 we dropped a few more points overall and are down by a figure of -15.765 points, results are always recorded to SP we will aim to get us back into the black again soon and see further improvement in the results.

Throughout the year we will keep up with our occasional lay opportunities of anticipated short priced favourites too. Naturally we will keep these results separately from the handicap figures we had been fairly successful with our selections throughout last year managed to get plenty of favourites beat so we finished on 40/54 (74%). We reset the counters for 2020 and will be continuing this throughout the year again. Currently a decent start with plenty of short priced favourites getting beat, and we are 9/11 (81.8%) after the opening few meetings of this stop start season.

This Tuesday is meeting number ten for the 2020 All Weather season. Tonight we shall be expecting a nine race card where five of these are handicaps. The action will still commence at 16:55 with a six furlong novice event for fillies and we should end the card around about 20:55 with our final handicap contest over a mile and four furlong trip the feature race tonight appears to be the 19:25 Class 4 mile handicap.

Here's a link to this Tuesday's race card; RACECARD

Going and Weather -- The going on the polytrack surface is described as 'standard to slow' and the current weather forecast for this Tuesday is for a lot of cloudy weather and it's going to be very cold all day. Only a light chance of some showers too and we expect the temperature to reach single figures around 7C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;
17:55  Unibet 'Thanks the frontline workers' Oakington Handicap
6f  [Class 5  10 runners]
A field of ten for our opening handicap tonight, with SEPAHI [2nd 11/4f] the one to beat chasing a hat trick of wins including a victory here just a few weeks ago and followed that up at Wolves while also looking for three in a row is MAGICINTHEMAKING [3rd 11/1] this mare won back to back races here when last seen last year. The veteran 10yo Englishman could also have a say is still winning races even at this stage in his career with four victories this season including last time out at Newmarket while Avenue of Stars refused to race last time so comes with risks.

19:25 Unibet '3 Uniboosts A Day' Teddington Handicap
1m  [Class 4  14 runners]
The mile trip now and respect for RIVER DAWN [Non Runner] back on the all weather on a workable mark, won twice at Lingfield before finishing third up at Pontefract this should be within his range, while Crystal Casque seems to have gone astray of late but was winning back to back races on the all weather before going off 100/1 last time out, so of course it wins 11/1 tonight, damn. Noble Peace would be of more interest when next seen at Lingfield so we'll have ATLETICO [Non Runner] each way tonight who seems to run well at this trip and was staying on when 4th last time out over 7f so this 1m trip should help.

19:55 'Try Our New Runner Boost At Unibet' Sunbury Handicap
1m 2f 219yds  [Class 5  13 runners]
Alan King had a good Royal Ascot last week and with the yard in form PECKINPAH [4th 14/1] might be bit of value at 10/1 here at this level, while DOUBLE LEGEND [9th 5/1] is given another chance back over his trip only couple of pounds to find this won't need much winning to be fair. At a big price and an each way / place bet is SEA TIDE [10th 50/1] who has been tumbling down the weights from a high mark in the mid 80s so now only on a mark of 65 take the 25/1 now.

20:25 Unibet 'Casino Deposit 10 Get 40 Bonus' Shepperton Handicap
1m 3f 219yds  [Class 6  14 runners]
The favourite DYAGILEV [Lay] looks beatable once more off this mark despite having three runner up places and a win in his last four runs this is tougher off at least 7lb more and I think we can find at least one to beat him again. I'll try two in the field against the fav, with HERM [6th 15/2] (PD Evans) and MURAAQEB [9th 12/1] (JM Bradley) my picks the latter is a course and distance winner of only 1lb lower and must be able to go close again with rider Joshua Bryan claiming a valuable 3lb.

20:55 Unibet 'June Casino Free Spin Festival' Upper Halliford Handicap
1m 3f 219yds  [Class 6  12 runners]
Our finale for three year olds and when Sir Mark Prescott sends horses here you take notice, especially when the are runner up last time and over a trip they are surely going to appreciate that gives us ANNO LUCIS [6th 9/4f] who ran close to another opponent here CAMOUFLAGED [4th 6/1] trained by Mark Johnston it would be no surprise if they fight out the finish again tonight. That's not to say the others don't have a chance but many will appreciate the experience wtih a lack of opportunities this season though NIGHT OF FASHION [12th 20/1] comes into a handicap at a low level and could well place.

Staked -- 10 points.      Returns -- 2 points.

Results will appear here later during Tuesday evening. This season we started afresh and will try hard to stop going well behind but all results are accurate and recorded to SP returns to a 1pt win stake only and updated each meeting. A disappointing start to 2020 was soon put right however after meeting #9 we now carry over a loss -15.765 overall.

Lays -- 9/11. We had a good season last year with the lays, aiming at favourites and not afraid to take on short odds on shots too. The plan will be for at least one or two each meeting and we will keep those results separate from the handicaps. All three selections beat tonight so now 12/14.
Tonight's Lays;

17:25 - RUNNING BACK [6f Novice Stakes] Lost 2nd 5/6f
18:25 - COMBINE [1m Fillies Maiden] Lost 4th 11/4
20:25 - DYAGILEV [1m 3f+ Handicap] Lost 3rd 7/2

Our next evening meeting is on Wednesday 1st July hope you can join us again soon but most importantly remain safe and well.