KEMPTON PARK HORSE RACING 2021 - MEETING #34 WEDNESDAY 15th DECEMBER

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 have continued blogging throughout 2021 till the end of the year and this Wednesday represents the final all weather night for us. Started well this season pleasantly still ahead as we push on through the autumn still in profit and now into December for the final few meetings of 2021. We had an exciting meeting at Cheltenham last weekend, also saw the finale of the F1 drivers and constructors championships on Sunday. AFC Wimbledon drew 2-2 with high flying Wycombe and will host another top side when Portsmouth visit Plough Lane on Saturday. Christmas cards done, presents to wrap but lets get on with our final 2021 Wednesday night fixture.

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 went a little behind around the middle of the year but now we are back in front as we ease towards the end of the season. We are looking very healthy with profit for the season standing at +25.465 points with further success expected we 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 37/51(72.54%) after another success at the latest meeting and we shall see how things finish up as this is our final midweek fixture on the 2021 season, with only the King George Christmas festival to cover on Boxing Day. 

This week will be our 34th Wednesday evening meeting of the year. Tonight's meeting will now begin earlier than expected with an eight race card to enjoy, we will still have four handicaps tonight and also another 2yo nursery contest. We will begin late in the afternoon with our opening race which will now commence at 15:45 with the opening handicap on our card run over seven furlongs, then we should end the card around about 19:15 with the final handicap event which is run over just under a mile and four 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 somewhat cloudy afternoon and early evening with a fair chance of some rain showers in the forecast while the temperature is not likely to get much higher than around 11C tonight.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

15:45  Unibet Horserace Betting Operator Of The Year Handicap
7f  [Class 6  14 runners]

Our opening handicap has a maximum field declared of fourteen, headed by Dream A Little (D Hogan), but we will consider a couple of big prices here in a wide open affair. Starting with a look at Fly The Nest [9th @150/1] a course winner last December has been running up to this mark on turf, a return to the all weather might bring about a revival and available at 20/1 so of interest in the place markets too with a good record at this track. Song Of The Isles [14th 10/1] has dropped considerably down the handicap and must be able to take advantage soon, couple of decent place efforts on soft going and Tom Marquand takes over on board.

Winner - (11) Fitzrovia @7/1  [David Probert].

17:45  Unibet Extra Place Offers Every Day Nursery

1m  [Class 5  6 runners]

Small field for the 2yo nursery handicap, led by HM The Queen's runner Park Street, should find a race or two soon enough and has been sent off well supported too but tonight going to take it on again with Night Glass who having had three runs for Richard Hannon (ran twice here) now with trainer Marco Botti and last run here was not far off some much better supported opponents and belied his 50/1 price that day. Should be close today for Marco Ghiani who was crowned this season's champion apprentice. Also considering the chances of Jacks Profit runner up on last two occasions races off a similar mark again today returning to a mile.

Winner - (1) Park Street @6/4f  [R Havlin].

18:15  Try Our New Price Boosts At Unibet Handicap

1m  [Class 4  7 runners]

Love Dreams [4th @7/2] might be a 7yo but continues to prove very consistent with his runs including plenty of place efforts here might be finding it hard to win with now but at this level shouldn't be far away and in a small field given another opportunity for another win. Also very interested in another 7yo here Espresso Freddo [Won @15/2] who was a course and distance winner this time last year, still able to place several times off higher marks and now back to the level that he was successful at cannot be discounted.

Winner - (7) Espresso Freddo @15/2  [T E Whelan].

18:45  Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap

7f  [Class 4  8 runners]

Mark Johnston aims to send Dutch Decoy [7th @10/3] down for a rare visit to Kempton, the last time his 4yo visited the Surrey course he won over this trip and must have a strong chance of maintaining his 100% course success rate with Hollie Doyle a good jockey booking. Another 4yo in the line up Juan Les Pins [6th @6/1] is another who won here last year, albeit over six furlongs, but has at least returned to that handicap mark now having become a little frustrating for trainer Ed Dunlop was a few places further back behind Dutch Decoy last time at Chelmsford and hopes pinned on a return to form at this venue.
Winner - (6) Follow Your Heart @4/1 [William Carver].

19:15  Unibet New Instant Roulette Handicap
1m 3f 219y  [Class 4  4 runners]

Our finale has only attracted a field of four, where Gaassee [Won @8/15f] is probably the main one to keep closest watch on having been victorious on his last two runs at Chester and then Newcastle, when sent off odds on favourite for those contests. Trevolli looks next best a regular on the all weather and consistent, finally winning a handicap at Chelmsford. Epic Pass ought to stay fine, couple of unsuccessful attempts over hurdles and returns to the flat, shouldn't really trouble the front pair, so maybe it's Jenson Benson with Hollie Doyle riding who can spring the surprise if the fav fails to fire. Two wins from four at Chelmsford, the extra trip is the unknown but that really applies to most here.

Winner - (1) Gaassee @8/15f  [Tom Marquand].

Staked - 10 points.       Returns - 10.03 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 continued and despite a losing meeting last time we remain in front to the tune of +25.465 points to a level stake at SP coming into this week's 34th meeting the last on the all weather with the big Christmas festival to round off our 2021 season here.

Lays - 37/51 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. These continue to go quite well given we are into the final few months of the year, and they are generally very short prices, including another successful fav beaten during the last few meetings. The plan will be for at least one or two each meeting and we will keep those results separate from the handicaps.

Tonight's Lays;

16:15 - Spirit Of Nguru  [7f 2yo Novice Stakes]. Won @11/8f

17:15 - August Place  [1m 2yo Maiden].  Lost 5th @4/6F

We will have more midweek floodlit meetings in 2022, our next meeting will be the KING GEORGE Boxing Day meeting on Sunday 26th December so keep well and hopefully we can have a successful 2022 too.