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.
We continue 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. Much to the annoyance of my rugby friends who have seen some of their games in the Rugby Union World Cup called off due to a storm. The same has seen the F1 in Japan reduced to just Sunday. Afc Wimbledon finally found their goal scoring boots last week and have played fellow relegation candidates Southend United last Saturday gaining a superb 4-1 win there including a hat trick from on loan striker Marcus Forss. Currently just out of the bottom three and back to back wins with plenty of goals should inspire some confidence. Off the field their crowdfunding efforts to help fund the new stadium on Plough Lane raised just short of £2.5m which might not sound much to the bigger clubs but for us small sides that will help with the build costs initially now we need to find a friendly bank for the balance.
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 fifth 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 -42.23 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 although last meeting we picked two winning favourites sadly but that happens from time to time which means we are now 28/41 (68%+) we will continue with this through 2019.
This Wednesday will be meeting number twenty five for the 2019 AW season and we are expecting an eight race card tonight and we have four handicaps plus the 1m 2yo nursery race to review which should keep us plenty busy enough. The action which will now commence at 16:40 with a 6f Classified event and our first handicap will be off at 18:40 tonight's card ends around about 20:10 with our final handicap contest for the sprinters over seven furlongs.
Here's a link to this Wednesday's race card; RACECARDGoing 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 and more than a fair chance of showers so keep safe in the bars 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;
18:10 -- 1m Nursery Handicap (2yo).
Our races begin with the mile nursery with a field of eight 2yo's ready for action. John Gosden runs COBBER KAIN [5th 10/3] who's already won twice and going to be a very short price today (won 1/3f last time) however we must look elsewhere for something at reasonable odds and that brings us to Sir Michael Stoute's Haydock winner ATHEEB [3rd 5/2f].
Our races begin with the mile nursery with a field of eight 2yo's ready for action. John Gosden runs COBBER KAIN [5th 10/3] who's already won twice and going to be a very short price today (won 1/3f last time) however we must look elsewhere for something at reasonable odds and that brings us to Sir Michael Stoute's Haydock winner ATHEEB [3rd 5/2f].
18:40 -- 1m Handicap.
19:10 -- 7f Fillies Handicap.
A decent race and a field of fourteen tonight, I tend to side with course and distance winners in these handicaps and we do have a pair of nice horses to select beginning with KHUZAAM [WON 10/11f] from Roger Varian who is a lightly raced 3yo and won his second race here last December and there could be plenty left to work on having only seen the racecourse four times in all. Down the bottom of the handicap is a favourite of ours KINGSTON KURRAJONG [5th 16/1] a winner at Windsor and Epsom on previous two outings and was runner up when last here so off the low weight should have a fair chance.
A field of fourteen ladies now as the fillies take their chance, and will be taking the field on with a couple of course and distance winners beginning with SONNET ROSE [2nd 9/2] who is a 5yo and seven furlongs is certainly her trip, a winner at Chelmsford last time and we'll also have the bottom one PADURA BRAVE [12th 20/1] who had Jo Gordon in the saddle when 5th over a mile here last time out and the return to seven furlongs with a similar effort might see her go fairly close at a big price.
The final handicap tonight has been divided and in the opening division we consider SAGITTARIAN WIND [9th 11/4] who won't need to improve much here to take this weak contest, top weighted GARTH ROCKETT (lay - lost 2/1f) has had plenty of chances but is still the second best so instead we'll try a win/place option on POWERAGE [7th 25/1] who has Franny Norton in the saddle which must be a plus here.
20:10 -- 7f Handicap (Div Two).
The second division has a field of 13 and is headed by MABO, who doesn't appear to enjoy the AW surfaces and only one piece of form some time ago at Newcastle so is overlooked. Will have a chance on a pair of decent priced selections in the finale, ROCK IN SOCIETY [2nd 16/1] beaten a neck ! seems to favour this trip rather than the six furlong event last time, a winner in May has been placed on two occasions since and this is a low quality event might be able to cause an upset. Shall also take GLOBAL ACCLAMATION [3rd 13/2] against the field too and Ed Dunlop's 3yo should also appreciate this return to seven furlongs too.
Staked -- 10 points.
Returns -- 1.91 points.
Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. This season we are sadly down by -42.23 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. Missed out a big win in the last by a neck but that's our luck this season. Lost another -8.09 points tonight as a result taking us to a disappointing loss figure of -50.32 for the season.
LAYS -- 28/41. Sadly we found two winning favs last time but that will happen now and again when you lay at short odds so we need to find another pair of successful lay bets this time around and these will show up here later on tonight. Had a successful fav laid tonight so now we are 29/42.
Our twenty sixth meeting for this year will be held next week on Wednesday 23rd October so hope to see you then and throughout the rest of 2019 too.
LAYS -- 28/41. Sadly we found two winning favs last time but that will happen now and again when you lay at short odds so we need to find another pair of successful lay bets this time around and these will show up here later on tonight. Had a successful fav laid tonight so now we are 29/42.
Tonight's Lays;
19:40 - Garth Rockett [7f Handicap] - Lost 6th 2/1f.
Our twenty sixth meeting for this year will be held next week on Wednesday 23rd October so hope to see you then and throughout the rest of 2019 too.
