DAY OUT TO CRYSTAL PALACE TO SEE THE DINOSAURS !!

Having a day off on Monday 1st July with the aim of going out to visit the area around what is left of The Crystal Palace which sadly was destroyed by fire in 1936. It's only a short train ride away in South London but I've not been other than for football at Selhurst. There are a few things to see and all close by to the station so for today we will jump on a train and have a walk around, it's a location I've wanted to visit for a while mainly to see the Dinosaurs which I recall as a child and must have been here with my late father, but when I mention it to others they think I'm making it up ... yet they have been there for over 150+ years. 

Amongst the things I hope to see;

•  Railway Station design from 1850s.
•  Get up close to the Transmitter Tower.
•  See the Athletics Stadium.
•  Visiting the Park with the Dinosaurs in them !!

BBC TRANSMISSION TOWER

All that Crystal Palace Park is missing now is a palace -- if we don't count the football team and as a Wimbledon fan lets move on from that. Not only is there a beautiful fishing lake, but you can also get lost in a baffling maze and spot the iconic Crystal Palace dinosaurs, over 30 statues sculpted by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, which have been around for over 160 years. The collection, also known as Dinosaur Court, were classed as Grade II listed buildings from 1973, extensively restored in 2002, and upgraded to Grade I listed in 2007.

NATIONAL SPORTS CENTRE

Heading out fairly early after the morning rush hour, catch the 09:35 from platform 1 at Feltham, arrives Clapham Junction platform 4. Crossing the tracks by bridge to reach platform 15 and catch the stopping service into Crystal Palace. The 18 mile journey taking around about an hour by train. And the Crystal Palace station is a wonderful hub with services running in and out across the six platforms now. In addition the architecture around the location has been kept given it was originally built here for the Palace which was destroyed by fire in the 1930's. Warning for anyone unfit like myself the area is gravel paths but very undulating and will need some decent walking shoes really, plus there are many school trips, dog walkers and cyclists using the paths so keep your eyes open. 

And finally we find the Dinosaurs, placed around various features and a large lake home to plenty of wildlife, if it wasn't for the regular rumble of passing trains this would be an ideal place, but the peace is spoilt by several classes of local school children so didn't spend as long as I wanted too.

KEMPTON PARK RACES 2019 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #15 3rd July

Continuing with the next instalment of what I hope will prove to be a productive year throughout 2019.

It's already July and boy was it too hot for me on the weekend, hopefully we'll chill down a bit and have a fun night here at Kempton. If you were at Glastonbury at the weekend I hope you didn't burn, and our next festivals will be at the end of this month with Galway, Goodwood coming soon plus we'll be over to Laytown Beach and the autumn meetings in Ayr. AFC Wimbledon have begun their pre-season fixtures with a 1-0 win at Wexford in Ireland and the home game with Rotherham will come around soon enough.

Did not have the best of meetings here last time but will continue to focus on the all weather horse racing now while the lights still shine brightly here at Kempton Park throughout this year. We are hopeful of better season than we experienced last year but it's just some fun and excitement to mix up the week we have started the first half a little behind to SP though it's positive thus far with regular winners and successful lay bets too. 

Let us continue with this our fifteenth Wednesday night of 2019, and will continue to focus on the handicap contests for each Wednesday evening meeting though we will also occasionally include a feature listed or conditions event too if there is one available. Keeping records of our endeavours to a 1 point level stake at SP, naturally we will personally be looking to get better odds than this but for the purpose of these results here we simply record SP returns only. Following our last meeting the deficit is currently on -24.525 points to SP returns overall. We continue to battle hard to reduce this and thankfully there is still plenty of time to get this back on track. 

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 have been fairly successful with our selections so far and last time got another selections beat which means we are now 14/21 we will continue with this through 2019. 

This Wednesday will be meeting number fifteen for the 2019 AW season and we are expecting a seven race card tonight we have five handicaps this week for us to look through and enjoy. The action which will now commence at 17:50 with a 6f Apprentice handicap contest and the card ends around about 20:50 with our final handicap contest again over 6f.

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

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 with more than an average chance of rain a top temperature will be about 16C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;
(sorry at Wimbledon today so just selections and lays to follow later.)

17:50 -- 6f Apprentice Handicap.

CANFORD'S JOY  [Non Runner]  //  PERFECT SYMPHONY  [3rd 12/1].

19:20 -- 1m 3f 219y Handicap.

SOTO SIZZLER  [2nd Evens]  //  LAWN RANGER  [6th 16/1].

19:50 -- 1m 7f 218y Handicap.

SEINESATIONAL  [6th 11/2]  //  SASSIE  [4th 7/2].

20:20 -- 1m Handicap.
PLUNGER  [7th 11/1]  //  CHARACTERISTIC  [Non Runner].

20:50 -- 6f Handicap (3yo).

LIVELY LYDIA  [10th 5/1] //  JOURNEY OF LIFE  [7th 5/1].

Staked -- 10 points.

Returns -- 2 points.

Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. We are currently on a deficit of -24.525 points to SP returns for the season, six months of the season to go though. Another disappointing night, 2 non runners so lost 8 points meaning we move up to -32.525 overall. 

LAYS -- 14/21. Another successful pair of lay bets last time around and will see if we can find one or two short priced selections and will post here if we have any for tonight. Both beaten again tonight so we now on 16/23.

Tonight's Lays;

18:20 -- WASAAYEF (2yo Fillies Novice)  LOST 2nd 3/1

18:50 -- HEREBY (3yo Fillies Novice)  LOST 3rd 9/4.

Our sixteenth meeting for this year will be held next week on Wednesday 10th July so hope to see you then and throughout the rest of 2019 too.

PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2019 SEASON -- MEETING #7

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2019.

Welcome to our seventh meeting of the season on Monday 1st July. 

1st race 2.00pm, gates open from midday.

Once again this season, we will have two Art of Racing Racedays at Pontefract Races in 2019. These racedays celebrate everything we know and love about The Sport of Kings. On both days we’ll be looking for guest tipsters to each preview one of the races on the day. These previews will be published online and in the racecards on the day with our tipsters invited to the course to share their knowledge before each race.

There will also be trips to the start of selected races so enthusiasts can see what happens in the calm of the open parkland down at the Start. We’ll also be running a commentary booth for people to have a go at commentating ‘behind the scenes’.

Blown by Wind - Mark Johnston

Pontefract remembers a record breaker of Sir Mark Prescott's from 1980 when it stages the 'British Stallion Studs EBF Spindrifter Conditions Stakes' (14:30). The extraordinarily tough and durable Spindrifter won 13 times in a 19-race juvenile campaign, an achievement that can no longer even be contemplated as the programme for two-year-olds has changed virtually out of recognition. In 2018, the race was won by Mark Johnston's 'Blown By Wind' (above right) who found this a little easier than when he ran so well behind the top notch Calyx at Royal Ascot.

ALL results for these fixtures are recorded to a level stake at Starting Price (SP), and will also show any forecast results too in the daily results but these do not count for the profit / loss figures. We arrive here on the back of a disappointing loss at the last meeting which leaves us trailing on -15.455 points to SP as we come into the seventh meeting.

The forecast going is now currently reported as 'Good, Good to firm in places' and our weather for Monday afternoon is for a generally cloudy day with plenty of humidity but only a small chance of some light rain showers and we've a forecast maximum temperature around the 18C mark.

A link to this afternoon's racecard can be found here

Here are our selections for the seven races on Monday afternoon, remember it's a very simple selection process using stalls one and two in every race;

14:00 6f Handicap.
(1) -- SCUZEME  [4th 9/2].
(2) -- GULLANE ONE  [7th 11/1].

14:30 6f Conditions Stakes (2yo).
(1) -- MONOSKI  [3rd 2/5f].
(2) -- LORD OF THE LODGE  [Non Runner].

15:00 6f Fillies Handicap.
(1) -- HELLS BABE  [2nd 3/1].
(2) -- CHYNNA  [5th 11/2].

15:30 1m 4f 5yds Handicap (3yo).
(1) -- FAYETTA  [2nd 5/1].
(2) -- MISTER CHIANG  [WON Evens f].

16:00 6f Classified Stakes (3yo).
(1) -- NORTHERNPOWERHOUSE  [2nd 6/4f].
(2) -- DREAM OF HONOUR  [4th 5/2].

16:30 1m 6yds Handicap.
(1) -- MONT KINABALU  [2nd 14/1].
(2) -- KHEROS  [4th 5/1].

17:00 1m 2f 5yds Handicap (Lady Amateur Riders).
(1) -- GRANDSCAPE  [8th 5/1].
(2) -- EZANAK  [6th 14/1].

Staked -- 14 points.
Returns -- 3 points.

Having started the 2019 season afresh, we fell behind in the opening few rounds a disappointing meeting six last time means we now have a deficit of -15.455 coming into the seventh meeting today. Poor day today just the one winner and a loss of -11 points. We will be at the half way stage next time but behind by -26.455 sadly.

Our next meeting here will be on Tuesday 9th July so we do hope to see you then.