KEMPTON PARK RACING 2020 MEETING #11 WEDNESDAY 1st JULY

Welcome to Kempton Park racecourse here for another Wednesday 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 third 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) wasn't a good meeting last time out and as such after meeting #10 we dropped a few more points overall and are down by a figure of -23.765 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 12/14 (85.7%) after the opening few meetings of this stop start season.

This Wednesday will be our meeting #11 for the 2020 midweek season here. Tonight we shall be expecting a nine race card where five of these are handicaps for us to get into. The action will still commence at 16:40 with a seven furlong novice event for fillies and we should end the card around about 20:45 with our final handicap contest over six furlongs while the feature race tonight appears to be the 19:15 Class 3 handicap.

Here's a link to this Wednesday'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 Wednesday 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;
17:10  Unibet Thanks The Frontline Workers Handicap
6f  [Class 5  12 runners]
Our first handicap is for three year olds, were TOMMY ROCK should be close again having won last time out at Wolves off this same mark and that only his fourth ever contest, so might still be well in on the handicap here won in some style under rider Adam Kirby who is once more in the saddle today. FEEL GOOD FACTOR also won last time around here and has more experience of the track too, was a decent winner that day for the claimer George Rooke and should be on the premises once more. Support for the handicap debutante ROGUE TIDE might also be noted, has had three runs on the all weather so far, might be lightly handicapped, could be a place bet for us and will keep an eye on that.

19:15  Try Our New Runner Boost At Unibet Handicap
1m 3f 219yds  [Class 3  14 runners]
John Gosden's GOOD TIDINGS [9th 7/4f] stumbled at Newmarket last time out and assuming that he's none the worse for that incident reappears here with a decent chance for his highly regarded trainer, while support for the Jeff Smith owned filly TRIBAL CRAFT [WON 17/2] should be noted and we will have this pair against the field.

19:45  Unibet Casino Deposit 10 Get 40 Bonus Handicap
1m  [Class 4  13 runners]
Having only his second run here at Kempton (runner up on only previous try) RIVER DAWN [WON 6/1] has plenty of appeal with a pair of all weather wins at Lingfield and has also show a liking for turf winning at Brighton, could be time for a fourth win tonight and the jockey booking of David Probert is a plus around this track, while JACK D'OR [3rd 5/2] has won here last year and there could be more to come off this mark for the 4yo who also has a top pilot with Oisin Murphy and gets a few pounds weight from the field. Will also consider a place bet on the filly IMAGE OF THE MOON as a lively outsider [6th 25/1].

20:15  Unibet Extra Place Offers Every Day Handicap
1m 7f 218yds  [Class 4  6 runners]
Roger Charlton sends TRUE DESTINY [2nd 4/1] and the last time he came he was successful in a handicap over this trip, going up in the weights but continues to improve with wins at Nottingham and York so highly respected in a small field. Alan King has been running BLAME IT ON SALLY [Non Runner] on the flat and has scored over course/distance too should still be good enough to win staying trips on the level before resuming his hurdle campaign in the winter.

20:45  Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap
6f  [Class 5  9 runners]
Our finale is a sprint contest over six furlongs, where top weight KING ROBERT [4th 14/1] can send us out with a win. Was about 10lb higher last year when winning at Chelmsford and tends to race up with the pace, maybe this will be his day. Passing over on Marvel [lay] who has a frustrating run of seconds to his name so we will throw MARTINEO [Non Runner] in the mix another who has been given a small reprieve by the handicapper after taking a long time to come back down to this level.

Staked -- 10 points.      Returns -- 18.5 points.

Results will appear here later during Wednesday 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 now sees us behind after meeting #10 to the tune of -23.765 overall and although the lays are successful we need a good win soon, a couple of wins and the non runners means we make a small profit tonight of +8.5 points, reducing the loss down to -15.265.

Lays -- 12/14. 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, we were successful with all three lays last time. Correct with 2 out of 3 tonight so that's 14/17.
Tonight's Lays;

16:40 - BASILICATA  [7f Fillies Stakes]  won 9/4 ;(
18:45 - STRAWBERRY ROCK  [1m 4f Novice Stakes]  lost 3rd 7/1 ;)
20:45 - MARVEL  [6f Handicap]  lost 3rd 4/1.

Our next evening meeting is on Wednesday 15th July hope you can join us again soon but most importantly remain safe and well.