Thriving Archie Perkins Can Win Again at Beverley

Without a doubt, one of the most impressive horses in the North of England this season has been Archie Perkins. The four year old has three wins to his name this season and is now on a career high mark. However, he keeps digging in and pulling out more, and despite yet another rise in the weights here, he is fancied to go close again.

We’ve seen Archie Perkins six times so far this season, and the only time he has not made the frame was on his first outing, one that he clearly needed both this year and last. You can discount that run, he was never in with a chance and in his other five runs he has made the frame on every occasion. He has three wins so far, with those coming at Redcar, Beverley and York, with two third placed finishes to go with those coming at York and Beverley.

Having a win and a third under his belt from this course shows his liking for it, and on top of that if you look back to last year, he has two further wins to his name at this East Yorkshire venue. He began this season by winning off a mark of 70 at Redcar and his most recent win at York came off a mark of 80. He comes into this race off 83, which makes him a full 13lb higher than when winning for the first time, which shows how big the task is for him here.

In two of his three wins he has won by a neck, they were his first and last run. This horse is very game and genuine, and what he does is he keeps pulling out just enough to win. The only time he won with any real authority was when he won at Beverley over this distance, he won that day by four lengths in the manner of a very nice horse. However, that is not his normal style, and don’t be surprised to see him win by the minimum margin if he does indeed win again.

A horse like this that keeps pulling out slightly more each time he wins can go on a sequence like this as they are really hard to get a grip of in terms of handicapping. There is every chance that this horse will pull out a bit more this afternoon and win again. We are backing him to continue what has been a great season so far.