Friday Racing Tips: Key Timeform data including a 9/4 top-rated Horse In Focus

• Lundi Noir's form working out well

• Fortune de Mer well weighted for handicap debut

• Drop in class for Group 2 winner West Acre

14:09, Chepstow - Promising return for Lundi Noir here last month

Lundi Noir missed 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 where the four-year-old made a promising return to action last month.

Lundi Noir has only run twice over hurdles and he was supported for his winning debut at Market Rasen in February when he scored 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. Given his lack of experience, Lundi Noir acquitted himself well to finish four lengths third behind Got A Dream and was still close up at the last when jumping left.

Lundi Noir, who heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings, earned the 'Horse In Focus' flag for that effort and is open to further improvement. The form has been boosted too, with Got A Dream following up at Warwick and runner-up Dirty Den finishing a good second at Exeter.

14:35, Ascot - Novice Fortune de Mer open to more improvement

Fortune de Mer has his quirks as he can take a strong hold, but he showed plenty of ability in bumpers last season, winning a listed event at Cheltenham in the autumn and showing useful form again when down the field in the Champion Bumper at the Festival.

He has only had the two runs over hurdles this season, but 'Hot Trainer' Dan Skelton clearly feels he's best off going down the handicap route already off what certainly looks a very exploitable mark. Fortune de Mer finished third when given a considerate introduction to hurdling at Uttoxeter in October and then left that form well behind in a first-time hood when winning a Grade 2 novice at Cheltenham later in the month with a useful effort.

After travelling strongly, Fortune de Mer got up close home for a short-head verdict over Doctor Blue - who runs earlier on the Ascot card - despite being hampered by the runner-up, earning the 'Horse In Focus' flag. Fortune de Mer can improve again, a BHA mark of 124 looking on the lenient side which puts him clear top on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.

20:00, Southwell - Smart sprinter West Acre makes handicap debut

There's some quality on Southwell's card in the penultimate contest of the evening where George Scott's smart three-year-old West Acre heads the weights in the five-furlong handicap. This represents a marked drop in class for West Acre who has been contesting better races all year.

He began the year in Dubai where he enjoyed a successful campaign on turf, winning twice in pattern company at Meydan, notably when breaking the track record for five furlongs when impressively beating older sprinters in the Group 2 Blue Point Sprint. While West Acre struggled subsequently, including in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot, he 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 split a pair who raced closer to the pace in finishing three quarters of a length second to Spartan Arrow. He had already shown his effectiveness on all-weather surfaces at two, notably when routing his field by upwards of six lengths in a novice over tonight's course and distance. West Acre has to give plenty of weight all round on his handicap debut as the best horse in the race, but he looks well treated as the class act in the field, heading the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings.

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