KEMPTON PARK FLOODLIT HORSE RACING 2022 - MEETING #5 WEDNESDAY 9th FEBRUARY

Welcome to Kempton Park racecourse as we begin 2022 with a fresh season of Wednesday evening meetings on the all weather flat track under the lights. We had a decent 2021 here on these Wednesday nights with a profit for the year to SP and shall aim for further success in 2022. My side AFC Wimbledon continue with their fight against relegation with a fixture to face Charlton Athletic on the weekend, sadly they lost 3-2 there and host another game against the league one leaders Rotherham on Tuesday night at Plough Lane where they went down 0-1. Elsewhere the 2022 Winter Olympic games have begun in Beijing, and we are looking ahead to next weekend's Super Bowl LVI.

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. Last season saw an overall profit for the year to the tune of +25.465 points to SP. We will continue to keep a record to SP throughout the season again so far the first four meetings were successful which means a +24.325 points profit to take through to week five.

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 38/52 (73.07%). We shall reset everything for the new year so that 2022 will begin afresh as it should be. Started well enough with another successful lay last time around means we are now 5/6 (83.33%) after the opening meetings and hopefully we will have another successful season from January - December.

This meeting will be our 5th Wednesday evening twilight fixture of the year. This meeting will have a seven race card to enjoy, four handicaps on the card at present, will see if any races are divided (doesn't appear so). We will begin late in the afternoon with our opening race which will now commence at 16:55 with a five furlong maiden contest, then we should end the card around about 20:00 with the final handicap contest a stayers 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 cloudy afternoon, but dry into the early evening while the temperature is not likely to get much higher than around 12C tonight.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

17:30  Unibet New Instant Roulette Handicap (3yo)

7f  [Class 6  9 runners]

The second race on the card is our opening handicap and it's for three year olds only, a field of ten have been declared on Monday headed by Deacs Delight for Paul Cole. However my first pick here is the handicap debutant Greyart [7th @8/1] who was fourth at this track last time in maiden company, now ridden by Marco Ghiani and ought to improve for the experience. Another horse who ran in that same race is the imaginatively named filly Ummsuquaim [2nd @8/1] who was runner up that time and with Hollie Doyle taking over in the saddle should have a big run in her again tonight.

Winner - (10) Gidwa @7/2  [David Probert].

18:30  Try Our New Price Boosts At Unibet Fillies' Handicap

1m  [Class 4  5 runners]

A small field of just five now for the fillies handicap over a mile, Amber Island (lay) makes a rare visit to this track (sole run here was back in Jan 2021) last of five at Lingfield last time, we will look elsewhere tonight. Arenas Del Tiempo looks interesting back down in grade has run well at Epsom, Sandown and Brighton last season and while this is a different surface to those has raced here in the early part of her career and likely to make a bold bid. The outsider of the five is Universal Effect a six year old, but a multiple all weather winner and the small field might be to her advantage if getting away on terms.

Winner - (4) Global Acclaim @9/4  [JP Fahy].

19:00  Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Fillies' Handicap

7f  [Class 5  5 runners]

Another fillies event up next, led by last time out scorer Khatwah, stayed on to to win that day and might well repeat tonight but looks way too short for us today. Runner up in that race was Eyes who once again tries again, likely to run their race again and no forlorn hope, will pair that one with Exuding who ran in another race on the same card again, runner up over six furlongs that day and the hope that this extra furlong brings out a bit more.

Winner - (1) Khatwah @10/11f  [Frederick Larson].

20:00  Join Racing TV Now Handicap

1m 7f 218y  [Class 6  12 runners]

The Resdev Way [2nd @7/1] might be a 9yo now but has shown still has the winning touch with a win last time out at Lingfield, Micky Hammond's inmate has been rated much higher than this lowly mark, and while no sure thing to go in again at least proved his well being with that last win. Tulane made most to win here going well clear and never caught, though unable to follow up a few days later that was in a non handicap event and most likely to make another bold bid in this line up.
Winner - (13) Smart Boyo @12/1  [Hollie Doyle].

Staked - 8 points.       Returns - Nil 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. A winning start to 2022, now up +24.325 points to SP returns coming into week five. Sadly nothing to show for tonight, shame but it happens, so we have to take 8pts off our overall profit which is now down to +16.325 points to SP returns

Lays - 5/6 having let the 100% start slip with a winning favourite in the second meeting we at least got back to a beaten lay entry last time. Looking for another good season with the lays, aiming at favourites and not afraid to take on short odds on shots too. Two from three tonight, shame but never mind, means we are onto 7/9 now.

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;

18:00 - Parlando  [1m 3yo Novice Stakes].  Lost 2nd @11/10f

18:30 - Amber Island  [1m Fillies Handicap]  Lost 3rd @4/1

19:00 - Khatwah  [7f Fillies Handicap].  Won @10/11f

We will have more midweek floodlit meetings in 2022, our next meeting will be held here on Wednesday 16th February 2022. Keep well.