Bookmaker reveals a secret of the trade ….
Leave Waterloo for two o’clock armed only with Racing Post and note book (paper variety).Pass quickly through Clapham Junction,Raynes Park,Hampton Wick,Teddington and finally arrive at Kempton Park just before three. A five minute walk to the track where hopefully I can find a quiet alcove where the final betting decisions will be made .I’m not being anti social but I do need ‘me’ time to study the card ,so please don’t ask me what I make of the card. Leave me be and ask me after I’ve had a bet, you might steal my market.
The apprentice handicap at 4.00 is tricky but a chance can be given to John Ryan’s filly Blueberry Fizz who finished a decent third at Lingfield on her latest start and the consistent Fayre Bella who finished third to the well backed Lightning Spirit here last month.
The one mile claimer at 4.30 looks a match up between the four and the three,Hannon’s Cristal Gem and Stan Moore’s course winner Snowed In. I fancy my chances in these races ,particuarily as a bookmaker acquaintance of mine (over a few drinks) recently let slip (under extreme interrogation) that all weather claimers were consistently his lowest performing races and if he had his way he’d do away with them altogether. That rare nugget was immediately filed away under ‘secrets of the trade’ for future reference.
The market will be of interest in the fillies maiden at 5.00. Aussie blow in Jeremy Gask looks to have a strong hand here running a couple of fillies that dead heated for third place here at Kempton on their latest start, Topflight Princess and Wiltshire Life .Jimmy ‘Good’ Fortune travels down for one mount only, Place That Face, a newcomer from the Hughie Morrison yard, a firm that usually make their winners pay.
A treat at 5.30, the listed race to be run over one mile. The one Laaheb should really be a short price given his 110 rating but frankly I thought he gave away a winning chance on his latest start here at Kempton a few weeks back. Alan Bailey’s Barbican hasn’t stopped improving all season and on his latest start he finished a decent third in a Group Three at Newbury while the five horse Ceilidh House, if coping with this different surface, could conceivably be involved at the finish. Excuse me madam, how much to box horses 1,3 and 5 in a forecast combo’ please?
I fancy my chances in that 6.00 race the seven furlong maiden. Perfect Cracker is the figures horse and has drawn box three too. Community shaped nicely on her debut at Suddy and has the redoubtable Milkshake aboard today while Ryan Moore and Clive Brittain team up with the well-bred ten horse Sawahill, a filly who could have a future on this surface over the next few months.
The class four at 6.30 looks decidedly tricky with plenty of previous winners lining up. Sugar Beet is in form but makes her debut here at Kempton tonight. Deerslayer won a claimer at Lingfield yesterday while Richard Guest will fancy his chances with Mottley Crewe, a horse who absolutely hosed up at Southwell on his latest start and looks a player under champion apprentice, Martin Harley.
Once raced Rivas Rhapsody has been given a chance by the handicapper to follow up a debut Ffos Las success in division one of the six furlong handicap at 7.00, race where the well-drawn Excellent Aim, trained by that old shrewdy George Margason, could be a player out of box three.
Racing closes with the second divide of the class six handicap at 7.30, a race where the cumulative total of races run by tonight’s participants stands at 571.Divinsky runs in his 195th race tonight, while Conor Dore’s Efistorm turns up at the racetrack for the 106th time .The comparatively
lightly raced Poppy under Ryan Moore could be the percentage each way play in the race .She made all here a couple of runs back and similar tactics could be employed again this evening. I also think Mark Hoad’s Doctor Hilary, who goes up 5 pounds for a recent course and distance success, has a chance. A race for watching I hope.The plan is that I’m so far ahead on the night that I’ll be sitting in the panoramic restaurant polishing off the last of the glazed lemon tart complete with a compote of seasonal berries while the needy and the greedy desperately try and touch for a winner in the lucky last.
Enjoy the racing at Kempton this evening and why not ring Star Spreads for all the latest market positions from all four of today’s meeting’s.You won’t be disappointed….
Donal