Canford Cliffs Odds-on for Lockinge Stakes
- By A.J. Ryder on May 9, 2011 17:48 GMT
Newbury plays host to some first-class action on the flat this weekend with the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes looking to be one of the most intriguing contests with high-profile Irish runner Canford Cliffs (Tagula) already odds-on for the victory. On Monday, several High street bookmakes clipped Canford Cliffs to 4/5 for a score in Saturday's showpiece fixture.
The weekend will also see several other high stakes races kicing off with the Duke of York Stakes and the Dante Stakes at York for three-year-olds.
The key challenger to Canford Cliffs Lockinge claims looks to be Dick Turpin (Arakan), another big member of last year's graduating class of quality milers. He got things off to a solid start against a relatively easy-looking field of five in the Group 2 bet365 Mile at Sandown on his seasonal debut when sent off at 8/13. He put in a game performance agains living legend Goldikova (Anabaa) to close out his three-year-old campaign at Longchamp in the Group 1 Prix De La Foret. It was an ambitious move by connections but he came out of the gate at 5/1 and that shows he had some significant support against the de facto best miler in the world.
Globetrotting Juddmonte-bred Twice Over (Observatory) is also set to run in the Lockinge and he ran a close third here during his four-year-old campaign and he'll definitely be looking to get things back on track after disappointing in the Dubai World Cup when sent off as the 2/1 betting choice.
Irish-bred but Italian-owned, the classy Worthadd (Dubawi) is also set for his English debut in the Lockinge. He is a relative unknown on shores within the UK and Ireland but he is extremely well-bred, out of a Rahy mare, and the multiple Group 2 winner will be making a big step up in class. Relatively lightly-raced but with significant earnings, he looms as the big-priced outsider.
The assumption for Canford Cliffs and his connections is that a solid victory here would set him up nicely for a run in the Queen Anne Stakes against Goldikova at Royal Ascot.
