KEMPTON PARK RACES 2019 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #23 2nd October

Coming down to the final few months of this annual theme, was hopeful of a more productive second half to the year but we struggling a little. Still time though till end 2019.

Here we are into October and as my friends continue with their Halloween preparations I am just trying to find my winter gear as the weather has taken a sudden downturn. Away from racing the Rugby World Cup continues in the mornings and have enjoyed the hosts Japan fabulous win against Ireland (19-12) but sadly my team AFC Wimbledon have continued to struggle and have also suspended our Manager Wally Downes after an accusation by the FA on bets placed prior to his appointment with us. So Glyn Hodges takes charge and we wait and see what happens next, there's always something happening including last weekends away game against Peterborough United where we lost again 3-2 but at least putting in a fighting comeback from 2-0 down at half time, will be a long frustrating season for the Dons. 

Has been a very up and down year overall not just with the racing though the last month was encouraging so with the Autumn and Winter months to come we 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 found it hard and are more than a little behind to SP though it's something I will keep persevering with through to the end of the year. 

Let us move onward with this our twenty third 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 -34.105 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 pair of favourite selection beaten which means we are now 26/37 (70%) we will continue with this through 2019.

This Wednesday will be meeting number twenty three for the 2019 AW season and we are expecting an eight race card tonight and following the division of the opening handicap event we now have SIX handicap races to review which should keep us plenty busy enough. The action which will now commence at 16:35 with our first handicap over seven furlongs and the card ends around about 20:10 with our final handicap contest for the stayers over a trip just short of 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 lot of cloudy weather with a chill in the air so wrap up warm now that Autumn is upon us the best we expect the temperature to reach is around 14C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

16:35 -- 7f Handicap (Div One).

DREAMING OF PARIS [Non Runner] has won and placed here earlier in her career and while disappointing since is a big price as a result but has tumbled down the handicap and also down in grade to a class six again so could have a chance of a surprising return to form. Also interested in ALABAMA DREAMING [5th 9/2] a lightly raced 3yo filly who has place possibilities over 7f and wouldn't be a huge shock if able to take a step forward on this all weather surface tonight.

17:10 -- 7f Handicap (Div Two).

A 4yo son of the mighty Frankel FRONSAC [4th 7/1] hasn't yet hit his fathers mark but this might be his best opportunity to date down in trip and class while recent winner MAGICINTHEMAKING [WON 7/2] has been in the first three in ten starts aside from one mishap when unseating rider Hollie Doyle should be close even under a 5lb penalty.

18:40 -- 1m Handicap.
A listed winner as a 2yo at Salisbury has run here at Kempton twice winning and runner up last time so KUWAIT CURRENCY [WON 11/4] is expected to go close once more even with top weight. While ROUSAYAN [5th 28/1] hasn't been seen on the all weather for a while is very experienced and achieved back to back wins earlier this year (and also the previous year) so is capable of success off this mark and at 20/1 is an attractive e/w shout.

19:10 -- 1m 2f 219y Handicap.
Any Sir Mark Prescott runner should be feared in handicaps and he sends GREY SPIRIT [3rd 12/1] here tonight and should be the right trip for this lightly raced four year old. While CITY TOUR [2nd 6/1] is another who seems to have appreciated a longer trip and has been a big price place the last two occasions.

19:40 -- 1m 2f 219y Handicap (3yo).

A runner up on debut here GUROOR [3rd 10/1] now a 3yo has run well on two subsequent visits while rated in mid 70s so dropping back to a mark of 60 might see some improvement and value at a decent price in this field. While FAME N FORTUNE [9th 13/2] overcame a wide draw to win over this trip and has been runner up again since with good 3lb claimer Cieren Fallon on board has a big chance tonight.

20:10 -- 1m 7f 218y Handicap.

Our finale is for the stayers and top weight CASA COMIGO [WON 13/8f] is coming here seeking a hat trick after two wins over the distance at Lingfield and has to carry a 5lb penalty for the last one which might not stop the sequence while PERCY'S PRINCE [4th 10/3] represents Sir Mark Prescott and the 3yo was a winner her just over a week ago and looks dangerous.

Staked -- 12 points.

Returns -- 11.875 points.

Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. This season we are sadly down by -34.105 points to SP returns. Now only three more months of the season to go and we will end up with an additional meeting here for the King George Chase on Boxing Day. Tiny loss tonight sadly, -0.125 means we have a loss of -34.23 going forwards to the next meeting.

LAYS -- 26/37. Another pair of successful lay bets last time around and will see if we can find one or two short priced selections to post here if we have any for tonight. Both were runners up tonight which was nice so we now onto 28/39.

Tonight's Lays;

17:40 -- SO SHARP [6f Fillies Novice 2yo's]. LOST 2nd 9/4.
18:10 -- STANFORD [1m Novice 2yo's] LOST 2nd 9/2.

Our twenty fourth meeting for this year will be held on Wednesday 9th October so hope to see you then and throughout the rest of 2019 too.

PONTEFRACT HORSE RACING SYSTEM -- 2019 SEASON -- MEETING #14

PONTEFRACT SEASON 2019.

Welcome to our fourteenth meeting of the season on Thursday 26th September. 

1st race 2:15pm, gates open from around midday.

As the Summer draws to an end and the Autumn sets in, we wind down our season with four midweek race meetings where it’s all about the racing. We have two Thursday meetings in September and two Monday meetings in October and the second of the All About the Racing Racedays is held at Pontefract Racecourse on Thursday 26th September. With just shy of 2 months left in the 2019 flat calendar, trainers are looking to finish their horses’ campaigns off so expect plenty of competitive racing and exciting finishes!

On Thursday there are 7 exciting races on the card getting underway at 2:15pm. The highlight on the day is the Simon Scrope Dalby Screw-Driver Handicap [4:00pm]. Back in the 19th century, 'Screw Driver' grabbed the hearts of the Ponte public and got their pulses racing. He won 2 Cup races which consisted of four heats over 2 miles on the same day with the winner being the horse with the best aggregate score over the 8 miles! He is also the earliest Pontefract course specialist on record! The highly talented Francis Xavier (below) was a classy winner of the 2019 renewal – he took on Elarqam and co first time out this year but got off the mark in 2019 when winning at Ascot earlier in the month.

There’s a strong supporting card with something for everyone, even had a 100-1 winner of the opening 2yo maiden last year when 'Our Rodney' popped in for trainer Donald McCain jnr.

ALL of our 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 small loss last time which does mean we are still trailing on -39.90 points to SP as we come into the fourteenth meeting and are now heading towards to final few 'furlongs' of the season. The forecast going is now currently reported as 'Good to Firm, Good in places' and our weather for Thursday afternoon is for a generally warm day with plenty of humidity and a good chance of some light rain showers and we've a forecast maximum temperature around the 19C mark.

A link to this afternoon's race card can be found here

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

14:15 6f Maiden Stakes (2yo).
(1) -- ALBEN SPIRIT  [WON 7/4f].
(2) -- CAPTAIN CORELLI  [3rd 25/1].

14:50 1m 6y Fillies Nursery Handicap (2yo).
(1) -- WALKONBY  [WON 2/1f].
(2) -- HIGH FLYING BIRD  [2nd 3/1].

15:25 6f Handicap.
(1) -- MR ORANGE  [6th 7/1].
(2) -- REFLEKTOR  [Non Runner].

16:00 1m 2f 5y Handicap.
(1) -- AWAKE MY SOUL  [].
(2) -- AYUTTHAYA  [WON 10/11f].

16:35 1m 6y Novice Stakes (2yo).
(1) -- BRINGITONBORIS  [5th 14/1].
(2) -- JERVAULX  [Non Runner].

17:05 5f 3y Handicap.
(1) -- SHEEPSCAR LAD  [3rd 5/2].
(2) -- JOHNNY CAVAGIN  [5th 7/2].

17:40 1m 4f 5y Apprentice Handicap.
(1) -- QASR  [Non Runner].
(2) -- DANCE KING  [3rd 5/1].

Staked -- 14 points.
Returns -- 10.66 points.

As we reach the conclusion of the 2019 season it's been a sad story of chasing our losses, while the selections are out of our hands with this system we are on a deficit of -39.90 coming into our fourteenth meeting today with just another two meetings to follow this. A loss of -3.34 points today so we have a deficit of -43.24 overall.

Our next meeting here will be held on MONDAY 7th OCTOBER so we really hope you will stick with us till the end of the season.

KEMPTON PARK RACES 2019 -- WEDNESDAY NIGHTS #22 25th September

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

We are reaching the end September now and the year is running away with us at a furious pace, my friends are preparing their Halloween material already and before we know it Christmas will be upon us. We might have lost the Ashes but did draw the series 2-2 so if we can work out a way to injure Steve Smith we might be fine down under with a decent bowling attack of Anderson, Broad and Archer. While last weekend was another disappointing result when my team AFC Wimbledon took on Bristol Rovers at home and lost 3-1 having once again taken the lead in the first half. 

Managed to have back to back winning evenings at the last three meetings here and 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 found it hard and are more than a little behind to SP though it's something I will keep persevering with through to the end of the year. 

Let us continue with this our twenty second 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 -34.105 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 pair of favourite selection beaten which means we are now 24/34 we will continue with this through 2019.

This Wednesday will be meeting number twenty two for the 2019 AW season and we are expecting an eight race card tonight we have four handicaps to review which should keep us plenty busy enough. The action which will now commence at 17:00 with a division one of the six furlong maiden event and the card ends around about 20:30 with our final handicap contest again over the six furlong trip.

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 lot of cloudy weather with several showers expected too so wrap up and keep under cover if you can the top temperature around 20C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;

19:00 -- 1m Handicap (3yo).

Our opening handicap doesn't take place till half the card is complete and sees a field of fourteen 3yo's line up for the mile trip. Wide open event according to the betting which shows as 4/1 the field, will take a couple of previous course winners against the rest and that's COMEONEFEELTHEFORCE [2nd 14/1] with 5lb claimer Thore Hammer Hansen in the saddle, and DANCING JO [Unseated Rider 7/1] who has the assistance of Andrea Atzeni tonight. The former named filly is up in the weights but that is offset in the main by the riders allowance.

19:30 -- 1m 2f 219y Handicap (3yo).
A disappointing field of only five for this event, and while all five seem to have a chance the likely favourite is Roger Varian's EMIRATES KNIGHT already a course and distance winner and will be respected. Given the small field and possible false pace it might pay to take the two outsiders in this which would most likely be BABBO'S BOY [2nd 12/1] (M Bell) and MIDNIGHT'S GIFT [4th 14/1] (A King) against the rest.

20:00 -- 1m 3f 219y Handicap.

A field of ten here for the mid distance contest, headed by UNIT OF ASSESSMENT [5th 9/1] who is a course and distance winner with a trainer in form and in Adam Kirby a jockey who has four AW wins on this selection priced up at 12/1 looks a good win/place option. Along with SIR PRIZE [2nd 3/1] who is a multiple course winner and while going up in the weights as a result is still in good heart and could still have more to come.

20:30 -- 6f Handicap.

Our finale tonight is a six furlong sprint, a dozen declared headed by MY TOWN CHICAGO another for the claimer Thore Hammer Hansen, his claim brings this on into the reckoning while one we would fancy if this race was run at Chelmsford would be MAGICINTHEMAKING. Our pair of selections against the field tonight are both forecast at double figure prices, are drawn 1 and 12, and aged 10 and 3 respectively so good luck to both KINGLAMI / ON ROUTE in the lucky last.

Staked -- 8 points.

Returns -- 0 points.

Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. After another good meeting last time we did make a small reduction in our deficit now down to -34.105 points to SP returns for the season. Now only three more months of the season to go and we will end up with an additional meeting here for the King George Chase on Boxing Day.

LAYS -- 24/34. Another pair of successful lay bets last time around and will see if we can find one or two short priced selections to post here if we have any for tonight. Two of the three lays beat, so 26/37 now. 

Tonight's Lays;

17:30 - DANCE FEVER [6f 2yo Novice] Won 5/6F
18:00 - JEAN BAPTISTE [7f 2you Novice] LOST 2nd 9/4
18:30 - INFORMED FRONT [1m 3yo Novice] LOST 2nd 4/9F.

Our twenty third meeting for this year will be held on Wednesday 2nd October so hope to see you then and throughout the rest of 2019 too.