Kempton Park Tips: Three picks for Wednesday

Evening racing on Wednesday comes from Kempton Park, with eight races on the Polytrack from 16:55-20:30 at the end of a busy day.

We've got three tips to follow, including one that looks primed to open his account now upped in trip.

17:30 – Classic Encounter @ EVS

The Godolphin-owned CLASSIC ENCOUNTER can make it third time lucky for Charlie Appleby by taking out this maiden contest over 1m3f in the hands of Danny Tudhope.

The Shamardal gelding looked in need of the experience on his racecourse bow at this track over 7f in August and failed to justify his market prominence.

He went up to a mile at Newmarket in October and showed improvement in finishing second, with the Roger Charlton-trained winner Hand Of God looking a useful prospect after that win.

Classic Encounter, meanwhile, still appeared to be learning the ropes and can improve again upped in trip with a pair of first-time cheekpieces added.

18:00 – Compton Bay @ 5/1

The Eve Johnson-Houghton-trained COMPTON BAY is interesting in this nursery stepped up in trip.

A gelded son of New Bay, he ran quite well on his debut at Epsom over 7f in July but perhaps didn't build on that as expected in two further turf runs.

He had mixed results in three all-weather starts from October-early November but his latest second here over 7f in first-time cheekpieces was encouraging.

He came from midpack with a good challenge and found only one too good, a similarly lightly-raced sort that was getting plenty of weight and appeared to benefit from dropping in trip.

Georgia Dobie's partner on the other hand looks sure to be worth another crack stepped back up to a mile and, if the headgear continues to have a positive impact, this could be his breakthrough. He's worth siding with in this Betfred Extra Place Race (four places).

20:30 – Vitalline @ 9/2

The evening card concludes with Division 2 of the Happy Christmas From The Kempton-Park Team Handicap over 7f and VITALLINE can grab the prize for Keiran Burke and Josephine Gordon.

The gelded son of Due Diligence has run well in two recent starts, here over C&D when third last month and then over 6f at Southwell on Friday last, when he was perhaps left with too much to do from the rear in an amateur riders' event.

He has tumbled a long way below his last winning mark and those two most recent efforts suggest he's going to take advantage soon.

Check out the rest of our Horse Racing Tips here.