Sectional Debrief: Kempton, December 18 & 19

Kempton's final two AW meetings of the year posed problems for sectional analysts, with some erratic camerawork combined with extreme weather. Wind was a factor on both days (behind and slightly across in the home straight), while Thursday's card featured some biblical downpours. Allowance has been made as much as possible for these factors, but a degree of caution is probably sensible in the circumstances. 

Finishes can be expected to have been a bit faster than normal on Wednesday (the wind will have slowed the runners down early and speeded them up less late), but Pushkin Museum's was still a good closing figure combined with a decent overall time, and this gelding has a good chance of completing a hat-trick. Fourth-placed Douneedahand came home fastest of all and can be rated second-best in this contest. 

Quiet Warrior also gets a good sectional rating in beating modest rivals emphatically, while the horse which finished sixth to him, Costa Filey, shaped second-best and probably retains all the ability that saw him find only one too good for him here in May. Costa Filey may be worth a second look in handicaps. 

But the race with the greatest potential value for sectional interpretation may be the maiden won by New Colours (thrashed by sectional pin-up Western Hymn the time before). This was a modest contest in which the winner got the run of things from the front. Sectionals suggest New Colours was only fifth-best, behind (in order) Confiture, Spirit Or Soul, Sea Spear and Marphilly, and he will do very well to follow up. 

Thursday's meeting had two races which resulted in good relative times - those won by Foie Gras and Spirit of Gondree - and six that did not. Sectionals suggest that the win of Foie Gras was particularly meritorious, in that he and Major Muscari finished quickly and came clear, while Asia Minor did well to come from last in a race that had been run at a fairly steady pace. They also cast doubt on the form of the race won by Mont Ras, which was efficiently run but resulted in a poor time for the calibre of horse contesting it. 

They suggest that Gabrial The Boss was narrowly the best in the race won by Wakeup Little Suzy, and that Anglo Irish was likewise in the falsely-run race won by his stable-companion Billy Blue. 

They also identify just what a messy race was the one won by Reimpose, who made all and came home in about 34.6s, meaning that anything out the back at the three-furlong mark would have had to run just about the fastest two-year-old sectional of the year to get past her. While nothing got especially close (Reimpose won by nearly two lengths), fifth-placed Cincuenta Pasos finished fastest of all and can be considered at least her equal: the Joseph Tuite-trained youngster looks interesting for a handicap or similarly modest maiden. Fourth-placed Why Not Now and sixth-placed Speechday can be rated not far behind the winner and should both be much more competitive next time.  
    
So, that's your lot for sectionals from this quarter in 2013. This series of Sectional Debriefs was intended to provide some consistency in sectional output and to educate along the way. Hopefully it has achieved that as well as being profitable for the reader, having shown a greater than 40% positive return on investment from "to follow" and "to oppose" recommendations since its launch in April. 

These Sectional Debriefs will resume in 2014, when there are some exciting plans to make the service of still greater use to the sectional enthusiast.     

To follow: Major Muscari, Cincuenta Pasos
To oppose: New Colours