🏇 PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2020 SEASON -- MEETING #6 14th AUGUST

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2020.
Welcome to the next instalment of our online coverage for the second half of the season here at Pontefract. Horse racing meetings around the country continue behind closed doors so we will continue to cover things as best we can here and then update if/when the guidelines change. 

Official Statement from Pontefract Racecourse regarding Coronavirus; 
*The information below is correct at 5pm on Tuesday 11th August and will be updated as and when further information is available and/or updated advice is received.*

At Pontefract Racecourse the safety and welfare of our visitors, racegoers, participants and team is paramount. We are keeping up to date with the latest information and advice from the Government and the British Horseracing Authority and have a team ready to implement recommended actions. We have been allocated 6 race meetings 'Behind Closed Doors'. This means that there will be no public in attendance and race meetings will be open to jockeys, trainers and officials only.
 
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) have now allocated further fixtures through to the end of the year, this means that there are an additional four fixtures for Pontefract to add to those already announced, we've had five meetings this season and there will be five more till we end on 19th October, therefore we've sadly lost six meetings from the usual calendar, under the current guidance these meetings will still be scheduled 'behind closed doors'.
These will be on:
  Friday 14th August
  Thursday 17th September 
  Thursday 24th September
  Monday 5th October
  Monday 19th October
The season has received it's final set of fixtures for 2020 and instead of the usual 16 races through the year we have to settle with just the 10. Still better than nothing and we of course continue the racing here at Pontefract behind closed doors. This is the sixth of the revised schedule due on Friday 14th August where the 1st race will be a 5f Novice contest due off around 12:15pm. 

Our feature race today is the 6f Flying Fillies Stakes (14:50) won last year by Perfection (pictured above) trained by David O'Meara and ridden by Silvestre De Sousa. It's a nine race card for Friday afternoon with the division of the Mary Clark Handicap (1:15 / 1:45) and as usual ALL of our results for these fixtures are recorded to a level stake at Starting Price (SP), and will also show any forecast results too in the daily results but these do not count for the profit / loss figures. After the first five meetings of the season despite managing a few winners but sadly not quite enough and thus we carry forward a small loss of -25.165 points to SP as we look ahead to this sixth meeting of the reduced season today.

Hopefully we can come racing again soon ladies

A link to this afternoon's race card can be found here

Going and Weather Details

The going for the next race meeting behind closed doors on Friday 14th August is currently 'Good to firm' following a very dry week, which is expected to continue throughout the week up to Friday with a top temperature of 22C at the track with more than a fair chance of rain, although we'll be dry and warm at home of course. Here are our selections for the nine races on Friday afternoon, remember it's a very simple selection process using stalls one and two in every race;

12:15  British Stallion Studs Ebf Novice Stakes

5f 3yds  [Class 5  10 Runners]

(1) - Secret Handsheikh  [4th 5/1].

(2) - Arceus  [3rd 25/1].

12:45  Trevor Woods Memorial Fillies' Novice Stakes

6f  [Class 5  15 Runners]

(1) - Meave's Memory  [5th 66/1].

(2) - Three Hat Day  [3rd 28/1].

13:15  Mary Clark 'favourite Day Of The Year' Handicap (Div One)

6f  [Class 3  11 Runners]

(1) - Airglow  [2nd 18/1].

(2) - Yukon Mission  [3rd 4/1].

13:45  Mary Clark 'favourite Day Of The Year' Handicap (Div Two)

6f  [Class 3  11 Runners]

(1) - What A Business  [5th 6/1].

(2) - Coastal Mist  [11th 12/1].

14:20  William Hill Best Odds Guaranteed Handicap

6f  [Class 5  14 Runners]

(1) - Phuket Power  [8th 10/1].

(2) - Breath Of Joy  [WON 10/3].

14:50  Ebf Highfield Farm Flying Fillies' Stakes

6f  [Class 1  13 Runners]

(1) - Jouska  [2nd 17/2].

(2) - Exceptional  [4th 9/4].

15:20  Moor Top Farm Shop Hemsworth Handicap

2m 1f 27yds  [Class 4  6 Runners]

(1) - Frankenstella  [3rd 11/8].

(2) - Fun Mac  [Non Runner].

15:50  Follow at willhillracing On Twitter Fillies' Novice Stakes

1m 6yds  [Class 5  12 Runners]

(1) - Aoife's Joy  [Non Runner].

(2) - Marengo Sally  [Non Runner].

16:20  Nova Display Handicap

1m 4f 5yds  [Class 3  8 Runners]

(1) - Matewan  [Non Runner].

(2) - Mr Carpenter  [Non Runner].

Staked -- 18 points.
Returns -- 9.33 points.

Results will be updated during the afternoon and we will keep a season total as usual though sadly despite a successful meeting #5 we are down by -25.165 as we enter this meeting. Plenty of non runners this afternoon, and a few big places too, winners slightly harder to come by today. Lost further -8.67 points so we take over a loss of -33.835 to the next meeting.

Our next behind closed doors meeting here will be on Thursday 17th September, hope you stay safe and well and perhaps later in the year we can go racing again.