Godolphin hat-trick in Lockinge
Stick with the market in main event
We are treated to a fabulous day of horse racing on Saturday at Newbury, with their seven-race card headlined by the eagerly-awaited group one Lockinge Stakes, due to post at 3.30pm.
Click here to pick your winner of the main event, or any of Saturday’s UK and Irish horse racing schedule. Read on as we lay-out our plan of attack in the one-mile feature, or skip to the bottom of the page, where you’ll find our race-by-race selections. It’s a day for winning big!
Ribchester a convincing favourite
Nine runners are marked down to contest the crown won by Belardo for Roger Varian 12 months ago. Our traders have nailed their colours firmly to the mast in the run-up, and have Ribchester priced as a convincing favourite, ahead of Galileo Gold, who leads the chasing pack at 3/1.
Normally, we’d look to take the shortest price on, and find an angle in to the race value, but in Ribchester there looks to be a jolly more than capable of living up to the pre-race hype. Richard Fahey’s impressive four-year-old colt has only once finished outside of the first three in his 10 starts so far, the spare in that run a fourth.
Return to a mile will suit
He has won the group two Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury, Ascot’s group three Jersey Stakes, and went to France, doing the business in the group one Jacques Le Marois last summer. Run only once so far this year, and that was at Meydan, finishing third in the Dubai Turf, another group one race, won by Vivlos.
That was over a longer trip than he is perhaps used to, and we’re confident the return to a mile will get the best out of Ribchester. Of course, it’s well worth noting that he’s a Godolphin rep, who have won each of the last two renewals of this race, with Night Of Thunder two years ago, and then that success with Belardo last time. The hat-trick looks nailed down, and our selection can give them it. Coral have opened at 7/4, and that’s worth keeping close.
My Dream Boat off to a flyer
Earlier in the day and we have My Dream Boat scribbled as next best on the card. Group three Al Rayyan Stakes opens the show, off at 1.50pm, and we should get a bit more of a price with this one. He barely put a foot wrong last year, getting ahead in some big races, including the Price of Wales Stakes at Ascot, edging past Found at double-figure odds.
We expect this race to be run to his liking, and he should serve it up to his rivals early, pulling a few of the contenders out of their comfort zone. The warm-up race at Sandown in the Gordon Richards Stakes should come in to play. Worth a shot at the 10/3 currently being offered at Coral.
Newbury selections
1.50 – My Dream Boat
2.20 – Barrington
2.55 – Mucho Applause
3.30 – Ribchester
4.05 – Koditime
4.40 – Gracious Diana
5.10 – El Hayem
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