KEMPTON PARK HORSE RACING 2021 - MEETING #16 WEDNESDAY 23rd JUNE

Welcome to Kempton Park racecourse a season of evening meetings following the events on a Wednesday night on the all weather flat track under the lights. We will continue blogging throughout 2021 till the end of the year. Started well this season pleasantly still ahead as we reach the latter part of June. We've been following the delayed 2020 European Championship and England had a poor goalless draw against Scotland on Friday night, and will play their final Group D game against Czech Republic on Tuesday night (won 1-0 to top the group). Royal Ascot has passed for another year where we managed some nice winners and where Oisin Murphy was crowned top rider for the meeting last week.

Returning to the horse racing all results here are reported to 1pt at Starting Prices (SP) we will be keeping a rolling record of profit/loss all the way through from January till the Boxing Day 'King George' fixture in December. A successful opening first half of the year during 2021 means we arrive here with a +10.805 profit and will continue to keep a record to SP throughout the season.

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 33/49 (67.34%). We reset the counters for 2021 and will be continuing this throughout the year again. Currently standing at 16/22 (73%) after the latest meeting and we shall see how things progress during the year ahead. 

This week will be our sixteenth Wednesday evening meeting of the year and gladly this week we have begun to see the return to spectators on the racecourse not just the few owners. Tonight's meeting we shall now be expecting a seven race card with five handicaps for us to review. Our action will now commence at 17:40 with a seven furlong apprentice handicap event, then we should end the card around about 20:40 with our final handicap event over just under two miles. 

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 somewhat warmer afternoon and early evening with regular showers in the forecast but a higher temperature of around 20C tonight - hopefully by the time the next meeting arrives it will begin to stay dry for the spectators who will now be in attendance.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

17:40  Unibet Casino Deposit 10 Get 40 Bonus Apprentice Handicap (3yo)
7f  [Class 6  14 runners]

Our opening contest is the first handicap event on the card and is a race for 3yo horses all being ridden by apprentice jockeys, so not a race to be too heavily involved with but lets have a look anyway. The field is led by Nibras Silk who came good at Chelmsford last time and has a 5lb claimer on board today, but I will try my luck elsewhere especially with ADAALADY who didn't do a lot in three runs but comes into a handicap on a low mark and has a good apprentice booked this might be a different proposition, also siding with PRISCILLA'S WISH who has Laura Pearson booked who should be on a high having rode a winner at Royal Ascot last week.
Winner - (6) Spirtuoso @11/1 [Callum Hutchinson].

18:10  Unibet Extra Place Offers Every Day Fillies' Handicap
7f  [Class 5  13 runners]

Time for the fillies now, again over seven furlongs, where top weight BROUGHTON SUNPEARL having won here before back in December and was runner up again here more recently when you factor in the jockey's 5lb claim is back on a workable mark and can certainly go close in this company. Port Noir [Non Runner] was a last time out winner at Wolves but is now 8lb higher and even with Oisin Murphy in great form could be vulnerable so we will look at LOWER STREET instead for the pick, ran well off the same mark and Jamie Spencer booked for the ride once more, will need to settle better early on, was doing all their best work at the finish last time at Chelmsford.
Winner - (8) Sayifyouwill @3/1 [Rob Hornby].

19:40  Unibet New Instant Roulette Handicap

1m  [Class 4  12 runners]

Last time here BONNEVAL was just denied on the line and compensation awaits with Oisin Murphy now in the saddle, has not had a lot of racing and wouldn't need to improve too much to take this. I like the form of COLONEL FAULKNER who will have Hollie Doyle in the driving seat today, Hollie was on board when winning over in France and has tried longer trips before, but the mile trip looks ideal. A place bet for us tonight would have to be Dream Chaser, who is a consistent type, the trip no problem, run well here before and only seen once so far this year, might be one for the second half of the season on the all weather but at 16/1 could make the frame here.
Winner - (10) Lankaran @6/1 [Jack Mitchell].

20:10  Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap

1m 2f 219y  [Class 4  11 runners]

Good race with eleven declared, few here with winning form but none stand out more than BEAUTY STONE [Non Runner] winning her last four races, twice here, and then continued that improvement back on turf with victories at Windsor and Goodwood. Up in the weights as a result of course but not entirely sure if she's peaked just yet and should be looked at closely with Hollie Doyle riding another plus. VIOLA ran on strongly at Lingfield to win over a slightly longer trip but did so well and could be the danger. One at a bigger price for the place markets could be Oh it's Saucepot a Yarmouth regular and running off same mark as her latest effort when runner up there.

Winner - (9) Noble Masquerade @7/2 [William Buick].

20:40  Bet At racingtv.com Handicap

1m 7f 218y  [Class 6  14 runners]

The stayers take the stage for the finale tonight, and the main one for me is HIGHWAY ONE the 7yo mare a winner of three from her last four races, still seems to have something to give and defeated LIVA by a short margin last time, I think the pair could well battle it out again for the win. Several of these are stepping up in trip from a mile and half, the likes of Devizes and Flying Standard have run well but looked one paced at the finish so will stick with the two original picks to conclude with.
Winner - (5) Anisoptera @6/1 [William Carson].

Staked -- 10 points.       Returns -- 2 points.
Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. All results are accurate and recorded to SP returns to a 1pt win stake only and updated each meeting. Our winning start to 2021 has stalled a little of late however these first few months have proved to be successful even with the last meeting being a small losing one our overall profit stands at +10.805 pts after meeting #15. No winners, losing 8 points and that's nearly wiping out our early season profits. So we're only at +2.805 pts going onto next week.

Lays -- 16/22 We had a good season last year again 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. Both beaten tonight, good, now standing at 18/24.

Tonight's Lays;

18:40 - Madame Ambassador [7f 2yo Fillies Novice]. Lost 3rd @9/4

19:10 - Kings Guard [6f 2yo Novice]. Lost 2nd @6/5f

The next midweek floodlit meeting here will be held on Wednesday 30th June so keep well and hopefully we can have a successful 2021.