"'Tis like the howling of Irish wolves against the moon."

Fact of the Day: After decades of supporting and watching horse racing, my opinion is that Kempton's All Weather is STILL the worst ever track built in Britain. I wonder why the attendences are comparable only to an unpopular grooms wedding party.....

The Bleedin' Obvious of the Day: I sometimes repeat myself -- and embellish...

Horse of the Day: Hercules (6-45 UK Gold)

The Owl has spotted..... Dormouse (Animal Planet 5-30)

The top two rated of our main handicap ratings are decidedly struggling this week. They are without doubt the worst run of results I have ever recorded. It may have something to do with very low grade, inconsistent horses, running on dog track surfaces in the main, calling enough for the season. There can be no other reason in my eyes. Fair enough, the supposed form horses (favourites/2nd favourites) are still showing something like average returns, but I have to say there have been some surprising horses being backed and winning. But the latter is probably only a personal take on the results reflected by the poor top two returns this week.

It was noticeable that today's only NH meeting produced five from six top two wins while the tired turf and the ridiculous all weather tracks were very poor for the ratings.

.Conversely, the Select Picks and the Graded (4) and (5) races seem to be holding up very well. It's a very strange week....

SUMMARIES (weekly average in red in brackets)

The Handicap Ratings and Speed Ratings combined top three strike rate for Wednesday was 52% (59.25%)

There were five from eight successful (4) and (5) UK graded races for dutching, Wednesday, giving a top two strike rate of 63% (56%)

The clear top rated winning strike rate of the (4) and (5) graded races Wednesday was 13% (15.5%)

The Select Pick dutching races, Wednesday, provided a 100% winning strike (75%)

The full top three summary for Wednesday (weekly average in red in brackets):

HANDICAPS
Clear top rated strike rate was 14% (15.5%). Best top rated SP was 8/1
Top two strike rate (incl joints) was 45% (36%). Best 2nd top SP was 11/1
Top three strike rate was 52% (55.75%). Best 3rd top SP was 8/1

SPEED RATINGS
Clear top rated strike rate was 14% (9.75%). Best top rated SP was (8/1)
Top two strike rate (incl joints) was 28% (29%). Best 2nd top SP was 5/1
Top three strike rate was 48% (43%). Best 3rd top SP was 8/1
note: Unless there are overnight withdrawals there is always one clear top rated horse (in both services). There are never more than three horses (in either service) in the top two in any race where there are joint 2nd tops (one top rated two joint 2nd top). There are never more than four horses in the top three (in either service) in any race where there are either joint 2nd or joint third tops.

If a horse isn't in the top three rated of the handicaps or the speed ratings, then it is highly likely it won't win.

You can view our two main services (Handicap Ratings with the Speed Ratings and Select) free for seven days by registering HERE

You can see an explanation of the Handicap Ratings HERE and an explanation of the Speed Ratings HERE. The Speed Ratings are an addition to the handicaps at no extra cost and you can subscribe HERE. There has never been a better time to join us.