John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on Friday.
Course form looking good for Lundi Noir
Lundi Noir was taken out of a race at Ayr last week where he looked to hold good claims, but he gets the chance to prove he’s a young hurdler on the up with Tom Lacey returning him to Chepstow instead (14:09), a track where the stable has a lot more runners and where Lundi Noir ran well last month.
The four-year-old son of Doctor Dino has only run twice over hurdles and there was plenty of market confidence in him when he made a winning debut at Market Rasen in February in ready fashion with a good round of jumping. After eight months off, he shaped well on his handicap debut at Chepstow in October in a race which attracted plenty of unexposed sorts in a field of sixteen. They included winner Got A Dream and Lundi Noir acquitted himself really well to finish four lengths behind him in third given his lack of experience, being close up when jumping left at the last.
Lundi Noir earned the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag for that effort, and the form has been boosted since, with Got A Dream following up at Warwick and runner-up Dirty Den finishing a good second at Exeter. Open to further improvement, Lundi Noir also heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
Grade 2 novice winner well treated for handicap debut
Small fields are a theme at Ascot, but there’s a bit of substance to the handicap hurdle over just short of two miles (14:35) and a runner of note, too, in Fortune de Mer for ‘Hot Trainer’ Dan Skelton.
Fortune de Mer has his quirks but had useful bumper form last season, winning a listed event at Cheltenham in the autumn and contesting the Champion Bumper at the Festival. He has only had the two runs over hurdles this season, so it’s interesting he’s going the handicap route already off what looks a very exploitable mark. Fortune de Mer was given a considerate introduction to hurdling when third at Uttoxeter in October and then left that form well behind in a first-time hood when stepping up to Grade 2 novice company to win with a useful effort at Cheltenham later in the month.
After travelling strongly, Fortune de Mer got up close home to win by a short head despite being hampered in the closing stages by Doctor Blue who runs earlier on the Ascot card. Open to further improvement, and with the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag, a BHA mark of 124 looks on the lenient side which puts him clear top on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
Smart sprinter West Acre the class act in first handicap
The highlight on Southwell’s marathon Flat card is a good-quality five-furlong handicap (20:00) where the weights are headed by George Scott’s smart three-year-old West Acre. This will be his first start in a handicap after performing in higher grades previously this year.
West Acre began the year in Dubai where he enjoyed a successful campaign on turf, breaking the Meydan track record for five furlongs when impressively beating older sprinters in the Group 2 Blue Point Sprint and then following up in the Group 3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint. He found things tougher subsequently, including in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot, but returned to form in first-time cheekpieces back on the all-weather in the Group 3 Mercury Stakes at Dundalk last month.
West Acre did well to finish second, beaten three quarters of a length by Spartan Arrow and splitting a pair who had raced closer to the pace. A six-length winner of a novice on his only previous start over course and distance last autumn, West Acre has to give plenty of weight all round on his handicap debut, but looks well treated as the class act in the field, heading the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.
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