At The Races

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Race Cards, Odds & Results Tue 9th Feb

Pau (France)

Meeting(s) televised on ATR Channel
Archived race video footage available

Kempton

I am absolutely delighted that the racecourse executive has decided to keep the jumping course when it builds the new all weather track. Kempton is just about the flattest course in the country and most races, particularly at the Christmas Festival and to a lesser degree at the Racing Post Chase meeting, are run at a pretty quick tempo.

The final three plain fences in the home straight come up quite quickly so this is a difficult track on which to make up ground. Indeed, both over fences and hurdles, front-runners do very well here.

The is no doubt which trainer/jockey combination should be followed at Kempton — especially at the Christmas Festival — Nicky Henderson and Mick FitzGerald. They have dominated racing here for many seasons now and any analysis of any race should always start with a close look at their representative. Ironically the one race in which one should be very wary of the Henderson runners is the King George — two and two-and-a-half mile specialist chasers very rarely win the King George Nicky!

And why is that? One would expect that on a flat, sharp, easy track like Kempton “short” runners (ie horses best at 2½m) might well get home here. Well the King George is usually run at a fierce pace from the start and there is no place to get a breather into your mount around this circuit. If you have any stamina doubts about your horse going into the King George it is probably best to look elsewhere.

Kempton, and again the King George in particular, is a happy hunting ground for French-trained horses with Francois Doumen boasting a tremendous record in the big race. Although the ground is nowhere near as soft as at the main French jumping tracks, Kempton is probably the British track which most resembles a place like Auteuil with it’s emphasis on accurate jumping and tactical speed.

In a nutshell, Kempton is a hell of a lot better jumping track than many trainers, and journalists, will have you believe. The form is often ultra solid and reliable, the ground isn’t lung-bustingly testing and the viewing is excellent. A really good track.

This Season's fixtures

Wed 10 Feb 2010
Thu 11 Feb 2010
Fri 12 Feb 2010
Sun 14 Feb 2010
Sat 27 Feb 2010

Course guides »
Flat
Jumps

The facilities at Kempton Park have been upgraded since it was a prisoner of war camp in the Second World War — but there is still room for improvement despite the new grandstand and parade ring. The place comes to life, albeit briefly, at Christmas for the King George VI Chase. The spirit is never quite rekindled on the Flat despite plenty of competitive racing. The track is a right-handed triangle intersected with a straight for 5f and 6f sprints. The mile and a quarter jubilee course joins the triangle three and a half furlongs from home. Somewhat surprisingly, Barry Hills is a major underachiever here — just 11 winners from almost 200 runners in the ten years from 1995 to 2004. Also, believe it or not, the all-conquering Sir Mark Prescott failed to send out a winner here from 2000 to 2004.

The final three plain fences in the home straight come up quite quickly so this is a difficult track on which to make up ground. Indeed, both over fences and hurdles, front-runners do very well here.

Directions

By road: Kempton Park is located half a mile from J1 of the M3 and is well signposted from the motorway. The racecourse is readily accessible by road and ideally situated to benefit from the motorway links between the M4/M3 and M25. On racedays, there are special RAC signposts for some miles around the vicinity of Kempton Park.

By rail: Fast and frequent trains run from London Waterloo on the Shepperton line to Kempton Park (where the train stops on racedays only). The journey takes half an hour from London Waterloo and there are trains approx every half an hour. Trains do not run to the racecourse on Boxing Day.