EPSOM DERBY / OAKS MEETING 2020 - SATURDAY 4th JULY

The Epsom Derby, which normally attracts more than 100,000 racegoers, is being held without spectators this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Postponed from its original date on 6 June, this year's Derby fixture will also stage the fillies classic The Oaks. 

The Derby market is headed by 5-2 favourite English King (pictured) for whom Frankie Dettori has now been booked to ride, he carries the same colours as Champion Stayer and Ascot Gold Cup winner Stradivarius, the next one in the market is the 9-2 chance Kameko. It's been reported this week that Military March, third favourite for the Derby at Epsom on 4th July, will now miss the race. Saeed bin Suroor, who trains the horse for the Godolphin team, said he had suffered a setback. "We will give him plenty of time and hopefully he will be back racing later in the season".

The Oaks betting is dominated by Love (Aiden O'Brien) the 6/4f and winner of this years 1000 Guineas will be extremely hard to beat again along with Frankly Darling (right, winning at Royal Ascot) trained by John Gosden this 11/4 2nd fav is stepping up in class from her Royal Ascot victory but at least proved that she'll see this trip out easily. We shall also update the rest of the card with selections and comment, the meeting is of course without the usual massive crowd, but will be featured on ITV throughout the afternoon for live terrestrial coverage in Uk.
Going and Weather
The going at Epsom is presently reported as Good (7.6)
The weather has deteriorated as you might have noticed, regular showers throughout the week and further chances of rain on Saturday morning. This afternoon's racecard and selections including the big races will be updated here, The Oaks will be the first of the two Classics today off at 3:40pm, while The Derby is later on the card at 4:55pm.

1:50  The Investec Woodcote Stakes (2yo)
6f  [Class 2  5 runners]
A race won last year by Pinatubo so will be interested to see who comes out of this renewal, our small and select field of five runners has a Godolphin representatives with MODERN NEWS looking to get back into the winning ways after a disappointing run when 5th in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot. While support for Mark Johnston's MUTAZAWWED who steps into this grade after couple of all weather runs should be noted seriously. The un-raced CALCUTTA CUP gets 5lb from the field but would have to be decent to win first time up here, with a field of five this could turn into a tactical race and a sprint finish on this cambered track needs a little experience.  [Winner - 4.  Twaasol 9/4 jf]

2:25  The Investec Surrey Stakes [Listed]
7f  [Class 1  6 runners]
Another small field but a good opportunity for SHINE SO BRIGHT to secure a nice prize, sired by a Derby winner hopefully will be fine on the track for the King Power Racing team. DARIK has been a successful servant on the all weather tracks till now, this is very different, also VALE OF KENT has yet to show his class this year but was 4th in the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot and then outclassed in a Group 3 race last week so this field should be more his sphere. [Winner - 4  Safe Voyage 6/5f]

3:00  The Investec Handicap Stakes
1m 2f  [Class 2  16 runners]
This looks a big field handicap but in reality it should be comfortable for DESERT ICON [Non Runner] following his 8L+ win last Sunday at Newmarket, assuming that he doesn't meet any traffic problems should scoot clear in the last furlong again and despite top weight does look well in here with only a 6lb rise for that emphatic win (take 3/1 now, should go shorter). The pair of Sky Defender [Won 22/1] and Certain Lad can chase him home at decent odds too so could play them to place. late news - sadly Desert Icon is now a non runner so it's far more open. [Winner - 5  Sky Defender 22/1] a nice success for us. 

3:40  The Investec Oaks [Group 1]
1m 4f  [Class 1  8 runners]
Two Classic's being run today, the ladies line up first where we've already been backing FRANKLY DARLING even before their latest win at the Royal meeting, with Dettori booked is sure to be popular too and I wouldn't be surprised if she goes off favourite at race time. Current favourite is LOVE the 1000 Guineas winner for Aiden O'Brien who as usual is mob handed here with three runners in a field of only eight, and hopefully all eight will stand so we can have a little place wager with QUEEN DAENERYS at 33/1 and while not the class of the front two in the market it is possible she'll stay the trip well and sneak a place late on. [Winner - 5 Love 11/10f]

4:15  The Princess Elizabeth Stakes [Group 3]
1m 113yds  [Class 1  6 runners]
Time for a Group Three race before the next main event today, small field again only the six appear all three year old fillies, still a shame to see Hayley Turner sidelined by injury and replaced by Ryan Moore on ONASSIS given her big win at Ascot. This looks a big leap for LOVE AND THUNDER but you ignore any Gosden/Dettori runner here at your peril, while FOORAAT has only had two all weather wins to show so far but seems likely to go off favourite for this and has some high profile entries too. [Winner - 6 Summer Romance 9/1] 

4:55  The Investec Derby [Group 1]
1m 4f  [Class 1  16 runners]
The famous Epsom Derby, running about a month later than usual, but still a fascinating contest with a large field of sixteen but with no less than six Aiden O'Brien so there shouldn't be any hype if he's successful given the way they swamp the entries and declarations. Hopefully it'll be a third Derby for Frankie Dettori on board ENGLISH KING in the same colours as the Ascot Gold Cup winner Stradivarius. We've classic form here with 2000 Guineas winner KAMEKO stepping up in trip, shouldn't be far away if staying the extra four furlongs, and then we are into the O'Brien horses with MOGUL the choice of Ryan Moore and he has been well supported this week. Interesting outsiders with a nice back story too, I'd want to see how PYLEDRIVER goes here with Derby winning jockey Martin Dwyer (Sir Percy, 2006).
[Winner - 6 Serpentine 25/1] Shock winner led them all way and they never got close enough, one of Aiden's many entries but not the one that everyone expected, big prices take the places too, maybe not going to be seen as a high quality renewal of the Derby. 

5:35  The Investec Zebra Handicap
7f  [Class 3  15 runners]
Our finale on Derby day is competitive enough but had I have been attending the meeting I think I'd have left before now and made the walk down the hill ... anyway for the purpose of a complete card this would be a race to take the two course and distance winners against the field, CORAZON ESPINADO won this last year and beat our other selection HATEYA by a short head perhaps there will be a reverse here this afternoon. A big price selection for each way players is DIRTY RASCAL with the in form Tom Marquand in the saddle, has won on this one at Goodwood earlier and this does look like an easier race than recent options. [Winner - 12 Muntadab 7/2f]
 
Hope you had a few winners too, and that's nearly the Classic season over with just the St Leger to come for 2020. 
Have a great weekend. stay safe and well.

LATEST NEWS UPDATE AFC WIMBLEDON - LEAGUE ONE, NEW STADIUM JULY 2020

Following the sensible decision by the EFL to finish League One and focus on the playoffs the post season for AFC Wimbledon has a feeling of relief, securing our place in the league at the expense of Tranmere Rovers, but also one of expectation for the new season with a return to Plough Lane now only months away. Further work on the stadium and it's beginning to look like a new home now, although unlikely to be complete until October 2020 as we are yet to know when the new season will start and it will certainly be behind closed doors I'm sure we'll have somewhere available even if a short term agreement with Chelsea Ladies to use Kingsmeadow for a month or two?

When the season ends it is always time for an overhaul of the squad, this season is more difficult with the uncertainty around when next season begins, and with little to no income I think most teams will be reducing their playing budgets. We've had to let go of a number of players, and of course all our loan players are back with their parent clubs too. Will be interesting to see who comes in, or if we rely on the development squad, I think a new Goalkeeper is a must, and we'll need to find some creativity along with a target man up front to support Joe Pigott.

Players leaving the club;
Rod McDonald
Reuben Collins
Anthony Wordsworth
Mitch Pinnock
Finlay Macnab
Scott Wagstaff
Kyron Stabana
Kwesi Appiah
Tommy Wood
Dylan Connolly
Ossama Ashley
 
Players already under contract;
Nik Tzanev
Nesta Guinness-Walker
Paul Osew
Callum Reilly
Jack Rudoni
Luke O’Neill
Paul Kalambayi
Terell Thomas
Will Nightingale
Matthew Cox
Jack Madelin
Archie Procter
Ayoub Assal
Joe Pigott
Adam Roscrow

Offers have also been made to both Shane McLoughlin and Anthony Hartigan to prolong their stay at AFC Wimbledon, we believe that Shane has agreed to stay and extended his contract with a lot of praise from Glyn Hodges about his contribution since arriving from Ipswich in January 2019. With the squad seeing the addition of a number of development team players as new signings are going to be difficult with budget restrictions and income streams likely to be tight. With only Nik Tzanev signed up in goal I think that might have to be a priority once again, hopefully if we go for another loan signing they will prove as good as Aaron Ramsdale for us.

 
Loan players returning to their parent clubs
Joe Day, Nathan Trott, Mads Bech Sorensen, Max Sanders, and Julien Lamy have all gone back to their parent clubs with the clubs thanks for their contributions at AFC Wimbledon.

KEMPTON PARK RACING 2020 MEETING #11 WEDNESDAY 1st JULY

Welcome to Kempton Park racecourse here for another Wednesday night meeting as we return to regular action on the all weather flat track under the lights but behind closed doors for the time being. This is the third race here since March but we will keep blogging throughout 2020 till the end of the year.

British horse racing has safely returned behind closed doors as part of a phased return for the sport. In doing so we will be introducing strict protocols designed to safeguard everyone's health and well being and to ensure that racing can take place safely behind closed doors. These measures have been developed in consultation with government and public health officials to help keep those attending safe and include:

• A three stage health check that all attendees on courses will have to pass;
• Strict social distancing measures on course
• Detailed new guidance for all participants on how they will have to do things differently on course in order that we can race safely and mitigate any risks.

In addition the courses are reducing the use of any medical or NHS services to a minimum, acting responsibly by using private ambulances, hospitals and medics – to protect the NHS. For those working at an event, including officials, racecourse staff and participants, the implementation of these guidelines ensures that racing will take place in a more controlled environment than most day-to-day activities.

Back to the horse racing all results here are reported to 1pt at Starting Prices (SP) wasn't a good meeting last time out and as such after meeting #10 we dropped a few more points overall and are down by a figure of -23.765 points, results are always recorded to SP we will aim to get us back into the black again soon and see further improvement in the results.

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 40/54 (74%). We reset the counters for 2020 and will be continuing this throughout the year again. Currently a decent start with plenty of short priced favourites getting beat, and we are 12/14 (85.7%) after the opening few meetings of this stop start season.

This Wednesday will be our meeting #11 for the 2020 midweek season here. Tonight we shall be expecting a nine race card where five of these are handicaps for us to get into. The action will still commence at 16:40 with a seven furlong novice event for fillies and we should end the card around about 20:45 with our final handicap contest over six furlongs while the feature race tonight appears to be the 19:15 Class 3 handicap.

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 and it's going to be very cold all day. Only a light chance of some showers too and we expect the temperature to reach single figures around 7C by the time the meeting gets underway.

Here are our handicap selections for tonight;
17:10  Unibet Thanks The Frontline Workers Handicap
6f  [Class 5  12 runners]
Our first handicap is for three year olds, were TOMMY ROCK should be close again having won last time out at Wolves off this same mark and that only his fourth ever contest, so might still be well in on the handicap here won in some style under rider Adam Kirby who is once more in the saddle today. FEEL GOOD FACTOR also won last time around here and has more experience of the track too, was a decent winner that day for the claimer George Rooke and should be on the premises once more. Support for the handicap debutante ROGUE TIDE might also be noted, has had three runs on the all weather so far, might be lightly handicapped, could be a place bet for us and will keep an eye on that.

19:15  Try Our New Runner Boost At Unibet Handicap
1m 3f 219yds  [Class 3  14 runners]
John Gosden's GOOD TIDINGS [9th 7/4f] stumbled at Newmarket last time out and assuming that he's none the worse for that incident reappears here with a decent chance for his highly regarded trainer, while support for the Jeff Smith owned filly TRIBAL CRAFT [WON 17/2] should be noted and we will have this pair against the field.

19:45  Unibet Casino Deposit 10 Get 40 Bonus Handicap
1m  [Class 4  13 runners]
Having only his second run here at Kempton (runner up on only previous try) RIVER DAWN [WON 6/1] has plenty of appeal with a pair of all weather wins at Lingfield and has also show a liking for turf winning at Brighton, could be time for a fourth win tonight and the jockey booking of David Probert is a plus around this track, while JACK D'OR [3rd 5/2] has won here last year and there could be more to come off this mark for the 4yo who also has a top pilot with Oisin Murphy and gets a few pounds weight from the field. Will also consider a place bet on the filly IMAGE OF THE MOON as a lively outsider [6th 25/1].

20:15  Unibet Extra Place Offers Every Day Handicap
1m 7f 218yds  [Class 4  6 runners]
Roger Charlton sends TRUE DESTINY [2nd 4/1] and the last time he came he was successful in a handicap over this trip, going up in the weights but continues to improve with wins at Nottingham and York so highly respected in a small field. Alan King has been running BLAME IT ON SALLY [Non Runner] on the flat and has scored over course/distance too should still be good enough to win staying trips on the level before resuming his hurdle campaign in the winter.

20:45  Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap
6f  [Class 5  9 runners]
Our finale is a sprint contest over six furlongs, where top weight KING ROBERT [4th 14/1] can send us out with a win. Was about 10lb higher last year when winning at Chelmsford and tends to race up with the pace, maybe this will be his day. Passing over on Marvel [lay] who has a frustrating run of seconds to his name so we will throw MARTINEO [Non Runner] in the mix another who has been given a small reprieve by the handicapper after taking a long time to come back down to this level.

Staked -- 10 points.      Returns -- 18.5 points.

Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. This season we started afresh and will try hard to stop going well behind but all results are accurate and recorded to SP returns to a 1pt win stake only and updated each meeting. A disappointing start to 2020 now sees us behind after meeting #10 to the tune of -23.765 overall and although the lays are successful we need a good win soon, a couple of wins and the non runners means we make a small profit tonight of +8.5 points, reducing the loss down to -15.265.

Lays -- 12/14. We had a good season last year with the lays, aiming at favourites and not afraid to take on short odds on shots too. The plan will be for at least one or two each meeting and we will keep those results separate from the handicaps, we were successful with all three lays last time. Correct with 2 out of 3 tonight so that's 14/17.
Tonight's Lays;

16:40 - BASILICATA  [7f Fillies Stakes]  won 9/4 ;(
18:45 - STRAWBERRY ROCK  [1m 4f Novice Stakes]  lost 3rd 7/1 ;)
20:45 - MARVEL  [6f Handicap]  lost 3rd 4/1.

Our next evening meeting is on Wednesday 15th July hope you can join us again soon but most importantly remain safe and well.