Westwood Handicap

Off time: 16:40 | Winning time: 1m 2.07s

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(6)

Excessable^p,t¹²

Age: 6| Weight: 9-8| J: Rachel Richardson| T: T D Easterby| OR: 70| BF| D

6/1

Met trouble in the run when a close fourth to a stablemate of Sheepscar Lad at Musselburgh (5f, good to firm) recently - today's rival Desert Ace was second; 8lb below his last winning mark; holds a definite chance on the figures.

Form: 836884

(2)

Sheepscar Lad¹⁸

Age: 5| Weight: 9-8| J: Faye McManoman⁽⁵⁾| T: N Tinkler| OR: 70| BF| CD

11/8

Kicked off the 2018 season by scoring from an 11lb higher mark at Doncaster (5f, soft); 0-19 since but placed the last twice over C&D, including when beaten a neck by Atyaaf (penultimate); shortlisted.

Form: 647323

(1)

Archimedes^t,v⁷

Age: 6| Weight: 9-7| J: D Allan| T: D C Griffiths| OR: 69| CD

7/2

Pacy and kept incredibly busy over the past month or so, winning twice, including from an 11lb lower mark over C&D (good to firm) four starts back; was badly hampered at the start at Doncaster last week and that run is safely ignored.

Form: 821510

(4)

Desert Ace¹²

Age: 8| Weight: 9-6| J: K Stott| T: P T Midgley| OR: 68| CD

11/2

10-76 career; a regular on the Westwood at Beverley; finished just in front of Sheepscar Lad when a shock 40-1 second to Four Wheel Drive here on his penultimate start; backed that up with another good run subsequently at Musselburgh.

Form: 100022

(7)

Tan¹⁶

Age: 5| Weight: 9-3| J: Theodore Ladd⁽⁵⁾| T: M Appleby| OR: 65| D

5/1

Runner-up on each of his last two starts, including in an apprentices' handicap at Brighton (5½f, good to firm) 16 days ago; isn't the force of old but evidently can still compete effectively from this kind of mark; others preferred.

Form: 750922

(5)

Qaaraat^p³⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 8-13| J: Cam Hardie| T: A Brittain| OR: 61

14/1

Knocked at the door on a couple of occasions early season, and is 8lb lower than when finishing a neck second to East Street Revue over C&D (good to soft) in May; modest since, and a rather unflattering 1-28 overall.

Form: 667066

Non-Runners

(3)

Van Gerwen²

Weight: 9-3| Age: 6

T: J L Eyre J: Non Runner

Forecasts

Sheepscar Lad (11/8), Archimedes (7/2), Tan (5/1), Desert Ace (11/2), Excessable (6/1), Qaaraat (14/1), Van Gerwen (14/1)

Archimedes was badly hampered leaving the stalls at Doncaster last week and given his all guns blazing run style that was very swiftly a case of 'game over'. Broadly speaking he remains in fine fettle and feasibly could boss his six rivals in this less competitive contest. However, a number of the others also merit serious consideration despite not necessarily being the easiest to win with. Excessable is handily-weighted and could potentially reverse recent Musselburgh form with Desert Ace, while the tentative selection SHEEPSCAR LAD ought to be there or thereabouts on the basis of his recent C&D placed form.