KEMPTON is all set to stage racing this evening during the solar eclipse.

While the twilight meeting at Ffos Las will begin and end earlier than originally scheduled to ensure all six races take place in daylight, there are no such issues at Kempton due to the floodlights that are in place at the Sunbury circuit.

Wednesday’s event will be the first partial solar eclipse for 27 years and will be visible across Europe, with some places experiencing a total eclipse, where the sun, moon and Earth all line up in space.

The light will dim, the temperature will drop and the wind may change direction as the sun disappears behind the moon.

After a few minutes the sun will reappear and daylight will return. The eclipse is expected to peak between 7.02pm and 7.16pm and Kempton has races scheduled to take place at 7pm and 7.30pm.

Kempton’s clerk of the course Barney Clifford said: “The last one was nearly 30 years ago so I wasn’t quite at Kempton then. I remember it but there were no floodlights in those days!

“I’m going to put the floodlights on early doors. I know they have predicted a time for it but you don’t quite know how much of the sun is going to be covered and for what race so we’ll have the lights on plenty early enough.”