2026 Newbury Lockinge Meeting Preview – DS
2026 Newbury Lockinge Meeting Preview
A deeply frustrating day on Friday. Hopefully we do better tomorrow, Dave Stevos’ 2026 Newbury Lockinge meeting preview is below.
2.35 – Lockinge Stakes (Group 1)
The first two races made limited appeal from an e/w betting perspective so we’ll start with the feature. A field of 10 horses have been declared for this year’s Lockinge and it looks a pretty open renewal.
John and Thady Gosden have won three of the last five renewals and Damysus, a 3.75l winner of a Newmarket G3 on his seasonal return, heads the betting at 3/1. By Frankel, this colt possesses a striking turn of foot but his last three wins have come over 1m1f-1m2f so the drop back to a mile is a slight query.
Zeus Olympus, unraced at two and unbeaten as a 3yo, lost his flawless record on his seasonal return in a G2 at Sandown and it will be interesting to see if he can get back on track on his first try at the top table. Karl Burke may have used that Sandown race as a prep run for this for his son of Night Of Thunder and it would be no surprise to see a much-improved display.
Turned The Corner?
After a long barren spell (by his standards) Charlie Appleby fired in two winners at Newmarket this week so has his string now turned the corner? If they have, his four-time 1m G1 winner Notable Speech looks a bit overpriced at 6/1. The 5yo son of Dubawi was an unlucky loser at Woodbine last time and if he turns up in top form, he’ll probably win this.
The one I’ll be taking a chance on is a horse that finished 2.25l behind Notable Speech (and 0.5l behind The Lion In Winter) on his last start in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Sahlan, a Wootton Bassett colt trained by Francis Graffard, beat Rosalion and The Lion In Winter in the Prix Du Moulin at Longchamp last year.
Caught In A Pocket
At Del Mar last time he was caught in a bit of a pocket turning for home, whereas Notable Speech got a dream run up the inside. Once Sahlan did find daylight, he picked up well and stayed on strongly for fifth, narrowly missing out on a place.
With a clear run I believe he would have finished a whole lot closer to Notable Speech and I also think he would have had The Lion In Winter’s measure.
He does lack a recent run, which is a bit of a concern, but his trainer recently produced Rayif to win the French 2000 Guineas on his first run of the season so he is more than capable of readying one. With the brilliant Mickael Barzalona in the plate, Sahlan is the e/w selection at odds of 10/1.
2026 Newbury Lockinge Meeting Tip: Sahlan e/w @ 10/1
3.10 – Carnarvon Stakes (Listed)
The one I came down on at a decent price here is Clive Cox’s sprinter Song Of The Clyde. By Sergie Prokofiev, this horse’s finest hour came in a valuable sales race at York (6f, gd-fm) last season which he won by 0.75l.
On his next start at Doncaster, in another valuable sales race over 6.5f (gd-sft), he ran another blinder to finish a 0.5l second behind Calendar Girl, to whom he was giving 11lb to. She went on to win a G3 on her next start and is now rated 103 so it was a fine effort, especially considering that the good to soft ground probably wasn’t ideal.
Ardisia gained revenge on Song Of The Clyde in the Listed 2yo trophy at Redcar last October but again, good to soft ground wouldn’t have suited Clive Cox’s charge. That was it for the season and he was put away for the winter.
Needed Last Run
Surprisingly, Cox ran him in a 6f Newmarket handicap (good) on his seasonal return and he shaped like he needed that run. I expect him to step forward from that and he’ll have his favoured good ground here.
Rated 100, he has a bit to find on paper with the likes of Wise Approach and Albert Einstein but on his run behind Calendar Girl at Doncaster he has the potential to reach a higher rating than that and I believe it is too soon to write him off. At odds of 14/1, Song Of The Clyde is the e/w selection.
2026 Newbury Lockinge Meeting Tip: Song Of The Clyde e/w @ 14/1
3.45 – London Gold Cup Handicap (Heritage)
A tricky looking puzzle. I was going to take a punt on the top-weight Bourbon Blues but then I realised that Brian Meehan hasn’t had a winner for 237 days. The only other one that made appeal at double figure odds is the Alan King trained Spyce.
By Too Darn Hot, this colt got off the mark at the second attempt in a decent York maiden (1m, gd-sft) last September. After that win, King wasted no time stepping him up in grade and trip and he was far from disgraced in the G3 Zetland Stakes over 1m2f at Newmarket (gd-fm), beaten 3l into fourth behind the now 109 rated Pierre Bonnard and the now 106 rated Endorsement.
King put him away after that fine effort and he made his reappearance in the G3 Classic Trial at Sandown. He was sent off at 20-1 for that 1m2f heat so I’m guessing the run was probably needed. That’s how he ran too, finishing 9.5l behind in fifth, but he wasn’t all that far behind the 114 rated Action, who ran a huge race in the Dante earlier this week.
Spyce now makes his handicap debut off a mark of 100 and on the form of those two G3 runs, that could be workable. He should be much sharper now with that comeback run under his belt and at odds of 12/1, he is the each way selection.
