The flat racing season is well underway and the big action continues this weekend with the Lockinge Festival at Newbury tomorrow.
The feature race of the card is the Lockinge Stakes (3.40pm) and our horse racing expert previews the big race and gives you the best bet ahead of the contest.
Le Brivido likely to off favourite
When looking at the race you have to start with the market leader in the shape of Aidan O’Brien’s Le Brivido.
He is undoubtedly a high quality horse and deserves plenty of respect in this big race having finished third at Naas on his first run for O’Brien following his move from Andre Fabre’s yard.
Past runs have shown he is not the most straightforward of horses as he fell out of the stalls on that occasion, but was still able to produce a strong run to finish third.
Le Brivido was also only beaten a head in the French 2000 Guineas in 2017 and although he went on to win the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot, he only run once last year and was well beaten on that occasion.
Because of that, and his short price of 7/2, I prefer other horses.
Beat The Bank the one to beat
Beat The Bank is a big danger to the rest of the field, and produced the goods last time out to see off Sharja Bridge at Sandown.
He didn’t fare so well in this race last year but Andrew Balding’s horse looks bang in form this time round, and is my fancy to make amends and pick up the win at 13/2 with Grosvenorsport.com.
Following that disappointment in 2018, he went on to run very well in the Queen Anne Stakes, and the Sandown run earlier in the year will only have improved his chances
Another one to watch is Laurens, and the only thing which is putting me off is that trainer Karl Burke is going through a tough time with very few winners.
She’s won five Group Ones and therefore warrants plenty of respect given her recent form as well. To boot, Laurens is also very short in the betting, and the form of the yard plays a big part in this for me so I will avoid her on this occasion.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.