Newbury preview: My Prospero on Lockinge fact-finding mission

William Haggas concedes a mile is probably not My Prospero’s optimum trip as he returns to action in Saturday’s Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.

Tom Marquand’s mount has won three of his six starts, including the Group Two Prix Eugene Adam at Saint-Cloud in July.

However, he has been twice unfortunate not to break his top-class duck, having been beaten a neck in the St James’s Palace over a mile at Royal Ascot and then on his return to the same track when a half-length third behind Bay Bridge in the 10-furlong Champion Stakes in October.

Haggas is convinced that while a Group One will fall his way sooner rather than later, it may not come at the eight-furlong trip he tackles this weekend, and his return to action will determine his Royal Ascot target next month.

��️ "This is an opener for the season."@TomMarquand cannot wait to ride My Prospero in Saturday's Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes @NewburyRacing, with a step back up in trip likely to be on the cards after this outing ��@AlShaqabRacing | @jessstaffordpic.twitter.com/SPOPXMIfAC

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) May 18, 2023

“I hope he’s got a big season ahead of him,” said Haggas, who was triumphant 12 months ago with the magnificent Baaeed.

“I wanted very much to run him in the Paradise Stakes at Ascot, but his scope wasn’t very good.

“The reason I wanted to run there was to see if he was quick enough for the Queen Anne, or the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. I’m pretty sure he’s Prince of Wales’s.

“So, having missed that, we are then a bit on the back foot, and it was either this or the Prix d’Ispahan (May 29), and I thought the d’Ispahan was a bit too close to Ascot for his first run, so we’re coming here.

“I’m pretty sure a mile is not his best trip, but he’s fresh and well and I think he’ll run a nice race.

“He is a good horse, but I think he’s more of a 10-furlong horse and I think he’ll end up in the Prince of Wales’s, but I think he deserves a crack at a Group One anyway.

“I don’t see the point in going for a lesser race at this stage now. The Paradise was right, but that didn’t happen, so there we go.”

Laurel was a late-maturing three-year-old, who did not race until July last year.

The John and Thady Gosden-trained daughter of Kingman looked a high-class filly in the making when she won two novice races over a mile before being beaten narrowly by Fonteyn in the Group One Sun Chariot on her third and final start.

She opened her four-year-old campaign with an easy Listed success on the all-weather at Kempton and as the only filly in the 13-strong line-up receives a 3lb allowance.

Barry Mahon, racing manager for owner Juddmonte, added: “Laurel is very unexposed. It’s a big jump up again into Group One company and taking on colts, but John and Thady are happy with her and it looked a nice fit for her on a nice track with good ground.

“Last year we threw her in the deep end after two easy wins and it looked for a minute like she was going to pull it off in big style.

“That day there was a little bit of bias towards the stands’ side and I think a combination of greenness and the other horse just getting a nice run up the rail saw her just get run out of it late on.

“Her comeback win at Kempton was good and blew away the cobwebs, and hopefully that will set her up to run a good race in this. She’s training nicely so we’re hopeful of a nice run.”

In a deep and open Lockinge, Jim Crowley will sport the same Shadwell silks the brilliant Baaeed carried to success.

He rides Mutasaabeq for Charlie Hills, whom he partnered to defeat Irish Guineas winner Native Trail on his return in the bet365 Mile at Newmarket earlier this month.

Shadwell’s racing manager Angus Gold said: “It was a nice performance last time. I was obviously really pleased with him and he did it under a penalty.

“Charlie has been really pleased with the way he has come out of the race and he’s looking fantastic.

“He has a good record at Newmarket, but there’s no obvious reason why he shouldn’t be just as effective at Newbury.

“The difference with him is that he appears to have matured a bit. On the evidence of that one run, his behaviour was much better and he appears to be a more relaxed horse.

“I don’t think Charlie feels he needs blinkers, as he never wears them at home, but they might help him concentrate a bit more. I don’t think he’d be afraid to take them off him as time goes by.

“Let’s hope he turns up in the same sort of form as he did at Newmarket, as it will take a good one to beat him.”

Last season’s Prix Jacques le Marois runner-up Light Infantry has three lengths to make up on Mutasaabeq on that run at Newmarket.

Trainer David Simcock said: “It was a satisfactory return. We got a bit of freshness out of him and we’re looking forward to Saturday.

“He’s proven he’s a Group One performer. He’s rated 119 and he’s a very decent horse. It is very open Lockinge – the betting suggests that – and I should think everybody thinks they’ve got a little shout, so it just shows how open it is.”

Ed Crisford, who co-trains Jadoomi with his father, Simon, is hoping the recent spell of dry weather breaks in time.

A Group Two winner at Goodwood and Leopardstown last season, he was last seen when a close-up third in the QEII at Ascot in October.

He said: “He’s in great order and we’re looking forward to it. We don’t want the ground to dry out too much for him, but he’s in really good form and I expect a big run from him. The way he’s training, I’m hopeful and there could be more to come from him, I’m sure.”

The Lockinge is one of the few big domestic races to have so far eluded Charlie Appleby, but in dual Breeders’ Cup hero Modern Games he has an obvious chance.

“Hopefully, this will be the opportunity for Modern Games to win a Group One in the UK,” the Moulton Paddocks trainer told the Godolphin website.

“We know that he is a crack miler and he goes here with the benefit of a run under his belt. Conditions at Newbury should suit, especially with the drying ground, and he is going to be a big player.”

Haskoy tackles Al Rayyan challenge on return

Ralph Beckett’s Haskoy will bid to begin her season with a bang in the Al Rayyan Stakes at Newbury.

The Golden Horn filly was twice a winner as a three-year-old, taking a novice on debut and then the Listed Galtres Stakes at York in August.

Her next outing was the final Classic of the season, the St Leger at Doncaster, where she ran a fine race to cross the line in second place but was later demoted to fourth as she was deemed to have caused interference.

Her run at Newbury will be her first of the season in a career that seems to be following an upward trajectory.

Barry Mahon, general manager for owners Juddmonte, said: “She’s a star.

“To jump up from winning a maiden on the all-weather, to then win a stakes race at York days later and then be thrown in at the deep end into a St Leger and finish second past the post.

“She’s a good filly, but she’s just taken a bit of time to come to hand.”

Godolphin run a well-fancied duo, with multiple Group winner Yibir at the head of the market for Charlie Appleby.

The five-year-old has not been seen since winning the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket in July, prior to which he was internationally campaigned and only narrowly beaten in the Sheema Classic, the Jockey Club Stakes and the Man o’War Stakes at Belmont.

Appleby’s second runner is Kemari, another five-year-old gelding but a horse who was more recently seen when finishing fourth and second in the Nad Al Sheba Trophy and the Dubai City Of Gold respectively at Meydan.

The trainer told www.godolphin.com: “Yibir suffered a setback after winning in July but his preparation has gone well. He went for a racecourse gallop at Newmarket a couple of weeks ago and we were very pleased with how he went.

“If he can bring the level of form he showed as a three-year-old and what we saw last year, he is going to be the one they all have to beat.

“Kemari showed great consistency over the winter in Dubai and the ground should be lovely for him. He is a very straightforward horse in terms of his running style and will hopefully be very competitive if he can replicate his Meydan performances.”

William Haggas is represented by Gaassee, a four-time winner who returns to the track for the first time since August and since being gelded.

The trainer said: “That is a very strong race for what it is. It’s a Group Three race with lots of good horses in it.

“He has got talent – we’ve had a few issues with him, but he’s ready to go and he’ll enjoy some decent ground.

“We gelded him at the end of last season. I think he’s OK.”

John and Thady Gosden’s Israr, Andrew Balding’s Old Harrovian, Aidan O’Brien’s Bolshoi Ballet also feature.

Noble Style warms up for Royal Ascot

Elsewhere there are two Listed races, the first of which is the opening BetVictor Carnarvon Stakes over six furlongs.

Godolphin and Appleby have a strong hand once again through Noble Style, winner of the Gimcrack last term and sixth in the 2000 Guineas when last seen.

Appleby said: “Noble Style goes into this in good order on the back of a pleasing run in the 2000 Guineas, when he was trying a mile for the first time on soft ground.

“We came out of that race with the mindset that sprinting was going to be the way forward.

“Working back from the Commonwealth Cup, we felt getting him back into a sprinting frame of mind here was the right thing to do. This looks a nice springboard onto Royal Ascot and we are very much looking forward to seeing him back over this trip.”

Bluestocking bids to make it two from two

The other Listed contest is the Haras De Bouquetot Fillies’ Trial Stakes, a 10-furlong event for likely Oaks types.

Juddmonte and Beckett run Bluestocking, a daughter of Camelot who won on debut in September when taking a Salisbury novice by a length and a quarter.

“She won her maiden well. Unfortunately we missed Lingfield (last weekend), which was where we wanted to go, and she has taken time to come to herself like a lot of fillies this spring,” Mahon said of the bay.

“Lingfield was our initial plan and the filly was probably not ready to run there anyway, so the switch to the all-weather didn’t really matter to us.

“We’re just waiting for her to come and bloom and she’s coming.

“Everyone is happy with her, she’s not 100 per cent there yet, but she’s coming and just about ready to start.

“She’s a nice filly, full of potential but there is still the unknown until we see her on track and that is where we will find out what her level is.”