Welcome to Kempton Park racecourse a season of evening meetings following the events on a Wednesday night on the all weather flat track under the lights. We will continue blogging throughout 2021 till the end of the year. Started well this season pleasantly still ahead as we push on through the autumn still in profit and now into November with only a couple more months of the season left to go. It's been a weekend of FA Cup action for us as AFC Wimbledon hosted non league Guiseley AFC of the National League North and managed to get into the second round draw with a 1-0 home win. We also received our booster covid jab and wrapping up warm for the winter. Later this week we have a three day November meeting at Cheltenham which will be updated on this blog too.
Returning to the horse racing all results here are reported to 1pt at Starting Prices (SP) we will be keeping a rolling record of profit/loss all the way through from January till the Boxing Day 'King George' fixture in December. A successful opening first half of the year during 2021 went a little behind in July but now we are back in front during September and October and as we ease towards the end of the season we are looking very healthy with profit for the season standing at +38.135 points with further success expected we will continue to keep a record to SP throughout the season.
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 33/49 (67.34%). We reset the counters for 2021 and will be continuing this throughout the year again. Currently standing at 33/44 (75%) after another success at the latest meeting and we shall see how things progress as the end of the calendar year draws nearer.
This week will be our 30th Wednesday evening meeting of the year. Tonight's meeting will now begin earlier than expected with an eight race card to enjoy, we will still have five handicaps including a 2yo nursery contest. We will begin a little earlier than usual and our opening race will commence at 16:30 with the opening two year old novices contest over a mile, then we should end the card around about 20:00 with the final handicap event which is run for the stayers over just under 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 somewhat cloudy afternoon and early evening with a fair chance of some rain showers in the forecast while the temperature is not likely to get much higher than around 14C tonight.Here are our handicap selections for tonight;
18:00 Unibet Casino Deposit 10 Get 40 Bonus Handicap
1m [Class 5 14 runners]
After the novice events are over we move onto our opening handicap of the evening, it's an open contest over a mile trip and forecast is around 4/1 the field. Our first interest is HOVER [WON @10/1] who takes a significant drop in grade, a winner at Goodwood last year and the mile is perfect, jockey Rob Hornby has been banging in winners lately too, looks a big price (20/1) and will play the place market too. A regular here COVERHAM [11th @11/1] just got to the line to dead heat here last time out, up 4lb, has run into places off that mark in past, could be the answer again tonight with his 3lb claimer good value for that and on board once again.
Winner - (4) Hover @10/1 [Rob Hornby].
18:30 Unibet New Instant Roulette Nursery (2yo)
19:00 Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap
6f [Class 4 8 runners]
Next up we have a 2yo Nursery over six furlongs, headed by the ex-Irish former Johnny Murtagh inmate Lord Gorgeous, has since moved to David Evans yard but might need to get some respite from this handicap mark here. Our first interest is Mark Johnston's RAINBOW COLOURS [5th @15/2] who scored up at Ripon, have been runner up on the all weather at Wolves prior to that, out to have a decent future and the likely market leader in this event. The other one for us against the field is THREE DONS [8th @40/1] as a Wimbledon fan if nothing else, was sold out of Richard Hannon's yard after a second place at Wolves, now in the hands of Tony Carroll is 3lb lower tonight and has Hollie Doyle booked to ride.
Winner - (2) Object @11/8f [S De Sousa].
Winner - (2) Object @11/8f [S De Sousa].
19:00 Unibet 3 Uniboosts A Day Handicap
1m 3f 219y [Class 2 6 runners]
Our best race tonight the class two contest has only a field of six sadly but should still be competitive. Andrew Balding saddled the winner last year and has COLTRANE [2nd @17/2] here tonight, won the Melrose handicap at York and then ran respectably (9th of 34 runners) in the Cesarewitch this is much more appropriate and I would be surprised if not battling out the finish amongst these with Rob Hornby riding in place of Oisin Murphy. NOBLE MASQUERADE [4th @11/4] has been running and winning off higher marks, even his defeat last week when runner up by a neck to Marching Army here would be more than sufficient, Ryan Moore in the driving seat, big shout.
Winner - (6) Candleford @5/6f [Tom Marquand].
Winner - (6) Candleford @5/6f [Tom Marquand].
19:30 Try Our New Super Boosts At Unibet Handicap
1m 2f 219y [Class 5 13 runners]
LADY PENDRAGON [5th @16/1] was a dual winner at Lingfield around this time last year and though disappointed last time here Martin Smith's 4yo filly doesn't look over encumbered tonight. The only course winner here is LIMITED EDITION [11th @5/2f] and is a lightly raced 3yo who should have a bit more to offer in this company, was sent off favourite at Bath and didn't seem to fire there, this track and surface should see him in a better light.
Winner - (13) La Hulotte @10/1 [David Probert].
Winner - (13) La Hulotte @10/1 [David Probert].
20:00 Try Our New Price Boosts At Unibet Handicap
1m 7f 218y [Class 5 13 runners]
1m 7f 218y [Class 5 13 runners]
The finale for stayers, where FIRST CHARGE [2nd @11/4f] is seeking a hat trick of wins on the all weather, victories at Wolves and Newcastle even though this is small step up in grade is clearly in good form over this sort of trip and the one to beat. While a repeat of his last visit here BEGGARMAN [WON @10/3] where he was only beaten a head by Percy's Prince should be enough, that was followed by a defeat on very heavy ground at Newbury and another who ought to benefit from the return to the all weather surface, Tom Marquand rides.
Winner - (9) Beggarman @10/3 [Tom Marquand].
Staked - 10 points. Returns - 15.33 points.
Results will appear here later during Wednesday evening. All results are accurate and recorded to SP returns to a 1pt win stake only and updated each meeting. Our winning start to 2021 has continued and we remain in the black to the tune of +38.135 points to a level stake at SP coming into this week's 30th meeting. Two winners tonight, and a small profit which is always welcome. Moves our overall score up to +43.465 points to a level stake at SP
Lays - 33/44 We had a good season last year again with the lays, aiming at favourites and not afraid to take on short odds on shots too. These continue to go quite well given we are into the final few months of the year, and they are generally very short prices, including another successful fav beaten during the last few meetings. The plan will be for at least one or two each meeting and we will keep those results separate from the handicaps. Both beaten tonight, 35/46 now.
Tonight's Lays;
16:30 - Ward Castle [1m 2yo Novice Stakes]. Lost 2nd @2/1F
17:00 - Princess D'Or [1m 2yo Fillies Novice Stakes]. Lost 10th @16/5
We will have another midweek floodlit meeting here on Wednesday 24th November so keep well and hopefully we can have a successful 2021.
