KEMPTON PARK RACES 2017 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #26 4th OCTOBER

Welcome to our twenty sixth meeting of 2017 here at Kempton Park and after last weeks break even meeting we still have a deficit to overcome and come into this week with a sum of -25.42 points to level stakes at SP. We're into the last three months of this year long blog and whatever happens will reset on Jan 1 and go again into 2018. 

As we continue to focus on the handicap contests for each meeting we will also occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1pt level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds but for the purpose of these results here we simply record to SP returns.

We will keep up with our occasional lay opportunities of short priced favourites too, we were not successful with our last pair of selections last time sadly, both were winning favs and undeterred we will see if there is another selection for tonight. Naturally we will keep these results separately from the handicap figures. 

This Wednesday is our twenty sixth meeting for 2017 and we are expecting an eight race card tonight with five handicaps to enjoy, tonight's action will commence at 17:40 with a 7f Handicap. 

Here's a link to this Wednesday's race card; RACECARD

The going on the polytrack surface is described as 'standard' and the current weather forecast is for a cloudy day with a chance of some rain, expecting a max temperature of about 17C when the meeting gets underway.

Our eight race card tonight has five handicap contests for us to review so will be a busy night, there might even be a lay bet but that will be updated later;

17:40 -- 7f Handicap.
Taking a chance on couple of outsiders tonight where both SEYASAH [4th 20/1] and WAQT [2nd 16/1] are maidens but have several pieces of place form and it's not inconceivable that they can improve to take a race of this nature. 

19:40 -- 1m Handicap.
Our 2nd handicap is a class three race over a mile, and again we look for something at decent prices against the field. Godolphin don't have too much dead wood in their yard and we will take DONT GIVE UP [5th 3/1] as one selection who has twice won in the last four runs and that included a win here over 7f and appears flexible as far as trips go. 

That along with EAGLE CREEK [3rd 5/1] who is a regular over the mile trip and winner at Lingfield in April and placed at Pontefract later too, both are about 12/1 so considered as win/place options. 

20:10 -- 1m 2f 219y Handicap.
Tricky one to call but both PERFECT QUEST [10th 25/1] and ADMIRAL'S SUNSET [7th 33/1] have been winning this season and while still a couple of pounds higher than their last winning mark its not out of the question that they can stop improving as they are only 4yo and hail from top yards. 

20:40 -- 1m 2f 219y Handicap.
Seems every handicap has a max field of 14 tonight so filtering out a couple of selections is not easy, however, both SPIRIT OF THE VALE [Unseated at start 12/1] and LYRICA'S LION [5th 5/1] have recent place form off a similar mark and proven effective over this trip, if anything they might be better over a little further so a strong gallop will suit. 

21:10 -- 1m 7f 218y Handicap.

Stayers turn for the finale tonight, top weight PARIS BOUND [2nd 10/1] is clearly not one to have maximum faith in but this is low grade stuff and can prove he's worthy of this burden. 

At the other end of the weights is OCEAN GALE [3rd 16/1] who has won over a furlong less and worth a chance here in this company.

Staked -- 10 points.

Returns -- NIL points. 

Results will appear later tonight. Currently we have a deficit of -25.42 points that we bring forward to this round of racing.

Places the best we can do tonight at decent prices yet no winners, now going to be down -35.42 to go forward to next time.

LAYS -- After last week's failure we now stand at 10 from 17 successful lays for this season, just 7 wrong all at short odds. 

One for tonight - MODERN LOVE [18:40 6f Maiden]
LOST 3rd at 5/2, so a success this week. 11 from 18 now.

Our next meeting here at Kempton Park will be in a weeks time on Wednesday 11th October.

NFL 2017 INTERNATIONAL SERIES GAME 2 -- NEW ORLEANS SAINTS vs MIAMI DOLPHINS

Sunday 1st October

New Orleans Saints vs Miami Dolphins 
@ Wembley Stadium 2:30pm 

The 2nd of this seasons international games will again take place at Wembley and continues the four game series in London which will be shared between Wembley and Twickenham stadiums. Another sell out crowd is expected for these popular matches and kick off will be at 2.30pm. 

Current season record 

 New Orleans Saints
    - P3 W1 L2 F73 A78
 Miami Dolphins
    - P2 W1 L1 F25 A37

Another excellent match up for our second UK game with Miami playing a bit of catch up having only played two games due to the recent hurricanes that devastated large parts of the East Coast a few weeks back. Both sides need to bounce back after poor starts too, the Dolphins were knocked over 20-6 by the New York Jets last weekend while the Saints at least managed to win their first match by cruising to a 34-13 against Carolina having gone into that game 0-2. Drew Brees is their main man and keeps setting records, so if the Dolphins defence cannot keep him quiet this could be over quickly. While for Miami it's a case of "welcome home" to Jay Ajayi the running back who himself is beginning to break records in the NFL and the London born star will be looking to score heavily therefore I expect a high scoring game so will be backing the 'Overs' Half time and Total Points markets.

For those of you not coming to Wembley this Sunday afternoon it's a joy that this match will be screened live on the the BBC as it has been in recent years. They appear to only have two live games this year which is disappointing but it's better than nothing and there's always the excellent NFL Show with Jason Bell and Osi Umenyiora together with host Mark Chapman which is on all season twice a week. 
Have a fun day.

1st Quarter;
After the anthems and the "protests" are over, with both sides lined up and some taking a knee again, the Saints kick us off and we are underway in London. The Dolphins opening drive sees Jay Ajayi run for a couple of first downs and they are up to the halfway line where they struggle to progress after a series of penalties, but a few plays later and this opening drive takes us to the 5yd line and we have first and goal but it's Intercepted by the Saints Ken Crawley in the end zone and that big drive ends in nothing. Saints take over for their opening drive and quickly get themselves across half way into Dolphins territory with wide receivers Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara making significant gains into the Red Zone before the end of the first quarter with no score as yet. 

2nd Quarter;
New Orleans starting off this period on the 30yd line looking to score on their second drive of the match, but they had to settle for a 41yd field goal attempt and that was missed by Will Lutz. So Dolphins take over again and we still to see a score, far too many penalties and missed opportunities during this opening half and so much for a high scoring game I guess. A single field goal from Will Lutz was all we have to show for the opening half. 

H/T Score;    New Orleans Saints 3 -- 0 Miami Dolphins.

3rd Quarter;
Finally a touchdown for New Orleans as Michael Thomas scores from 3yds to extend their lead to ten points, and while we had hoped that the floodgates might open it's a continuous series of three and out followed by a punt from each side and we're soon heading into the final quarter of the match that has basically never got going.

4th Quarter;
The final period and no real change, the Saints doing enough to keep on top and extend the lead with another Lutz field goal to go 13-0 and the final nail in the coffin for the Dolphins came when Drew Brees passed 12yds to Alvin Kamara for their second touchdown. The next two games are at Twickenham and I really hope we see more of a spectacle at the home of rugby. 

F/T Score;    New Orleans Saints 20 -- 0 Miami Dolphins. 

FAREWELL WOLTERS KLUWER ... WELCOME CRONER-i LIMITED

On 1st October 2017 I will cease working for Wolters Kluwer after just over two years and will be moving over to a new company who will be known as Croner-i Limited. Will be based in the same office in Kingston upon Thames for the time being, but a move to our own offices in the near future is definitely on the cards. The "takeover" or divestment has been carried out by a company known as Peninsula but they seem to be an umbrella company who pick up other parts of businesses and make them more profitable. Something that they have already done this with another part of Wolters Kluwer - CGL (Croner Group Limited) in Hinckley and turned that around from a loss into a profit making concern in about a year. Initially I was worried this would put us in a bad position and possibly redundant but so far all I know about them is they want to grow the business and why not. If that's true then there's plenty of work to do, and I don't want to move again so fingers crossed it doesn't end up with loads of people leaving and life falling apart.

At some point we will move offices, but I don't expect that to happen this year, maybe in the coming year perhaps and we will cross that bridge when we know the details. For the time being we will be simply relocating to another floor within the same building so for the coming few months we will have to see how things go and also how the atmosphere is "under new management" so to speak. I have other issues to deal with so keeping fingers crossed that we are ok here now. 

I loved my last job as QA with Saadian Technologies and miss the working environment plus of course the people I met there. Am in no state to move on again at this time so please Lord let this work out for the better and I am going to work at it in return.

Farewell WK

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