Modern Games, who took the Grade One Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland last autumn, is the only previous winner at the highest level in a 13-strong field for the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on Saturday, but he is only third-best on Timeform’s ratings and seems ideally suited by tight US tracks and lightning-fast ground.
He is an underwhelming favourite a result, not least as he faces several progressive rivals with considerable scope for improvement on their form to date.
Laurel was less than a length behind the winner in the Group One Sun Chariot Stakes on just her third start last October, while My Prospero drops back to a mile after running a huge race behind Bay Bridge and Adayar in last season’s Champion Stakes.
At the likely prices, though, Simon and Ed Crisford’s Jadoomi (3.35) could be worth backing to take another significant step forward.
Jadoomi was supplemented for last season’s Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on the back of three straight wins, and more than justified the gamble by finishing third, just a short-head behind Modern Games, after leading for much of the way. He has just 10 runs in the book at five years of age and looks overpriced at around 8-1 for a breakthrough Group One success.
Newbury 1.50 The step up to a mile – on testing ground – was a risk worth taking for the previously unbeaten Noble Style in the 2,000 Guineas last time out. He ran well to finish sixth and the return to sprinting here should underline his leading claims for the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot next month.
Newmarket 2.05 Gulmarg is impressively consistent and the form of his latest run was franked when the winner, Surely Not, went in again at Chester last week.
Newbury 2.25 Haskoy has a few pounds to find with Yibir on the ratings but Ralph Beckett’s filly progressed a long way in the space of a few weeks last season, finishing two lengths behind the winner in the St Leger (though subsequently demoted to fourth) on just her third career start.
Newmarket 2.40 An ultra-competitive handicap for three-year-old sprinters, in which a focus on the luckless run of Eminency last time out may mean that Quinault has been overlooked in the market after a no-nonsense win last time out.
Newmarket 1.30 La Guaride 2.05 Gulmarg 2.40 Quinault 3.15 Striking Star 3.50 Persuasion 4.25 Sumo Sam 5.00 Spring Bloom
Bangor 1.35 Waspy 2.10 Heart Of A Lion 2.45 El Borracho 3.20 Norley 3.55 Landen Calling 4.30 King Arise 5.05 Sunday Soldier
Newbury 1.50 Noble Style 2.25 Haskoy 3.00 Bertinelli (nap) 3.35 Jadoomi (nb) 4.10 Kingdom Come 4.45 Bluestocking 5.18 Leap Abroad
Thirsk 1.57 Tallulabelle 2.32 Mid Winster 3.07 Moush 3.42 Bay Breeze 4.17 Liamarty Dreams 4.52 Andromedas Kingdom 5.25 Little Jo 5.58 Clear Angel
Uttoxeter 5.35 Eaton Lady 6.05 Lookaway 6.35 Silver In Disguise 7.05 Copper Coin 7.35 Militiades 8.05 Getaway Tom 8.35 Can’t Beat History
Doncaster 5.50 Divine Comedy 6.20 Anfaal 6.50 Almaty Star 7.20 Good Morals 7.50 Libra Tiger 8.20 Harry Magnus 8.50 Hidden Code
Newbury 3.00 Bertinelli, beautifully bred and entered for the King Edward VII at Royal Ascot, is an interesting runner for Aidan O’Brien in what is always a high-class handicap and finished within two lengths of the Chester Vase runner-up, Alder, last time.
Newmarket 3.15 Striking Star was still showing signs of inexperience when second on his handicap debut earlier this month and has the most scope for improvement in an interesting field.
Giavellotto has Melbourne target after lifting Cup
Having waited since July 2018 for a Group-race winner in Britain, Marco Botti had to hang on for another 10 minutes or so before Giavellotto was confirmed as the winner of the Group Two Yorkshire Cup here on Friday, as the four-year-old drifted to his left in the closing stages and impeded two of his rivals.
Once the stewards had decided to let the result stand, though, Botti was able to start planning a campaign for Giavellotto that could steer around the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot next month towards a tilt instead at the Melbourne Cup in November.
Giavellotto was a 14-1 chance for Friday’s race, the fifth choice in the betting in a six-strong field, but turned around the form of the Dubai Gold Cup in March – when he had struggled for running room at a vital stage – in comprehensive fashion.
Broome, Siskany and Quickthorn were all in front of him at Meydan, but Giavellotto came with a strong run inside the final quarter-mile and win by half a length.
“He came across a little bit in the last furlong, he didn’t interfere with the runner-up [Eldar Edarov] but Andrea [Atzeni, his jockey] said he was just idling a little bit once he hit the front,” Botti said.
“Last year he ran a huge race [behind Eldar Eldarov] in the St Leger, he didn’t have much luck in Dubai with the wide draw, but we’ve always thought he was a very good stayer. It’s been a couple of quiet years, so to have a horse of this calibre is great.”
Botti does not feel that either the track or trip in the Ascot Gold Cup will suit Giavellotto, but Eldar Eldarov, who was giving weight to the winner, will almost certainly head to Royal meeting’s showpiece event.
“He’s run like he’s the best horse in the race,” Roger Varian, Eldar Eldarov’s trainer, said. “He’s given the winner 5lb and he’s given Broome [in third] 2lb, it was a really good run. We put a line through his run [over two miles] at Ascot in October. It was heavy ground that day, which he won’t run on again. Every time he’s run over this [one-and-three-quarter mile] trip he has looked like he is only getting going at the line, and we think the Gold Cup will suit him.”
Eldar Eldarov is vying for favouritism in what is an open market on the Gold Cup, since Kyprios, last year’s winner, is not expected to recover from an injury until later in the year.
Coltrane, who took the Sagaro Stakes earlier this month, is top-priced at 4-1 with Eldar Eldarov on 5-1, while Emily Dickinson, a stable companion of Kyprios at the Aidan O’Brien yard, is out to around 7-1 after a disappointing finish in sixth place in the Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown on Friday evening.
Stratford-on-Avon: 2.05 Global Famenglory, 2.35 Heneryetta Bay, 3.05 Gold In Doha, 3.35 Blue Ribbon, 4.05 Treefinch, 4.35 Sheldon, 5.05 Parade Away.
Ripon: 2.25 Foreseeable Future, 2.55 Valadero, 3.25 Market Value, 3.55 In The Trenches, 4.25 Pinafore, 4.55 Tele Red (nap), 5.25 Highfield Viking (nb).
Mostabshir is also likely to head to the Royal meeting after running away from his field in the Darley Novice Stakes, but John Gosden, his trainer, remains unsure whether he will go to the Group One St James’s Palace Stakes on the opening day or the Britannia Handicap, 24 hours later.
“What was nice was that William [Buick] said he quickened twice, and when they do that you’ve got to take note,” Gosden said.
“He was giving 6lb to the opposition so it was a decent performance, but we’re in a complete muddle now as we don’t know if we’ll go to the Britannia or [if] the handicapper will make it impossible. The other option is to go in at the deep end.”
