KEMPTON PARK RACING 2020 MEETING #17 WEDNESDAY 7th OCTOBER

Welcome to Kempton Park racecourse here for another evening meeting as we return to regular action on the all weather flat track under the lights but behind closed doors for the time being. 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) our last meeting here we managed to pick up a couple more points but as we are now in October and after meeting #16 and some unfortunate near misses we find ourselves in a loss for the year to a figure of -35.185 points, results are always recorded to SP we will aim to get us back into the winners enclosure 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, two more short priced favs beat last time we now have stats of 20/30 (66.67%) after the latest meeting.

This week we are back with a Wednesday evening meeting during this interrupted period, this will be meeting #16 for the 2020 midweek season. Tonight we shall be expecting a nine race card with no fewer than five handicaps and also throwing in the 6f Conditions event at 19:00 which will keep us busy. The action will now commence at 16:25 with a six furlong nursery contest and we should end the card around about 20:30 with our final handicap contest over six furlongs.

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 some rain expected the temperature to reach around 15C by the time the meeting gets underway a sure sign that Autumn is upon us now.
Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

16:25  Unibet New Instant Roulette Nursery

6f [Class 5  10 runners]

The opening event is a 2yo Nursery event, Richard Hannon runs three here with TILAAWAH [2nd 5/2] the pick of those on known form, with Jim Crowley riding for retained owner Sheikh Hamden Al Maktoum, and was runner up at Wolves in a similar race so high on the list tonight. SHOW YOURSELF [3rd 7/2] was another to finish second last time out, that was here and given a good account of herself should go well again too.

18:30  Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap

1m 2f 219y [Class 5  14 runners]
Siding with a pair of three year olds against the field here tonight with LAW OF ONE [2nd 8/11f]  trained by Sir Michael Stoute, having had two runs on the all weather and by Galileo the trip is no issue even with limited experience. COMBINE [Non Runner] is another with time on her side, is given another chance to shine over this trip in a fairly low grade event.

19:00  ebfstallions.com Conditions Stakes

6f [Class 2  7 runners]

In addition to the usual handicaps we have included the feature event on tonight's card the 6f Conditions Stakes two at decent prices against the field for us, CHIL CHIL [4th 11/1] for King Power racing having already won here last term and had only the four runs this season winning at Ascot and now rated 93, in this non handicap event has a chance at 14/1. While GLAMOROUS ANNA [6th 18/1] is another rated at 100 and yet gets in here receiving weight from the field. Won twice earlier in the season at Windsor and Goodwood and the trip should be fine here having been placed twice at the track last year and has clearly trained on.

19:30  Unibet Casino Deposit 10 Get 40 Bonus Handicap

7f [Class 3  14 runners]
Godolphin runner LIGHT AND DARK [WON 7/2] is having his first try on the all weather track here but having won at Newmarket and was recently a neck runner up at Sandown. Should have the pace to challenge and might have most to fear from another big stable selection RIOT [7th 5/1] (John Gosden) who has only run four times, three times runner up at Sandown Park and then went on to win here last year, this is his seasonal debut though but you would expect him to be fully prepared.

20:00  Unibet Extra Place Offers Every Day Handicap

7f [Class 4  14 runners]

Having won at Bath two starts ago HANDYTALK [8th 50/1] could be well worth a shout with Saffie Osborne taking off a handy 7lb claim and it's great to see her getting rides away from her Dads yard as I think we'll see a lot of her. SWINLEY FOREST [6th 6/1] was a winner over a mile here in July, and although the step back down in trip is a surprise there must be a chance he can be positioned handy early and make the race a true test with William Buick riding.

20:30  Unibet Handicap 

6f  [Class 6  12 runners]

Top weight might not stop SWANTON BLUE [8th 9/2] from scoring again having ran on to win at Chelmsford last week and this looks an easier contest with top jockey (S De Sousa) booked should go very close. GHERKIN [2nd 5/1] has been placed regularly but might go better with Oisin Murphy booked to ride and won't get many more easier handicaps than this.

Staked -- 12 points.       Returns -- 5.5 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 #16 to the tune of -35.185 overall and we need some more winners to get back into profit. Just the one winner, a few runners up, but means we lost -6.5pts tonight leaving us with a carried forward total of -41.685. 

Lays -- 20/30. 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. Two short price beaten, shame about the other one. 22/33.

Tonight's Lays;

17:00 - EMBARKED  [7f 2yo Novice Stakes Div 1]. LOST 2nd 10/11f
17:30 - DARK COMPANY  [7f 2yo Novice Stakes Div 2]. Won 2/1f ;(
19:00 - D'BAI  [6f Conditions Stakes]. LOST 2nd 11/10f

Our next evening meeting here will be next week Wednesday 14th October hope you can join us again soon but most importantly remain safe and well.