Hills Confident Mutasaabeq Can Make Step Up To Group 1 Level In Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes

Charlie Hills hopes that Mutasaabeq can belatedly add a Group 1 to his CV in Newbury’s Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes on Saturday after two excellent Group 2 wins since blinkers were applied.

If the five-year-old can complete his hat-trick in the QIPCO British Champions Series one-mile feature he will continue the good recent record of Jim Crowley and the Shadwell Stud, following the wins of Mustashry in 2019 and Baaeed last year, and finally justify the high hopes which were held for him two years ago.

Hills said: “Looking back, supplementing him for the QIPCO 2000 Guineas was probably the worst thing we ever did. He didn’t run badly in seventh behind Poetic Flare, but he’d only won a novice and a conditions race and I think you need more experience for a race like the Guineas. We’ve had to rebuild his career since then.”

He knows the family intimately, as his father Barry trained the dam Ghanaati to win the 2009 1000 Guineas and he has trained all of her progeny himself, and it is no surprise to him that Mutasaabeq is only peaking now.

This will hopefully be a good year for him

He said: “Ghanaati’s progeny seem to get better with age (Afaaq, for example, peaked at four with a win in the Hunt Cup while Wafy was best at five) and this will hopefully be a good year for him.”

The season certainly got off to a good start at Newmarket, where Mutasaabeq put up the performance of his life so far in a Bet365 Mile transferred from Sandown, beating last year’s Irish 2000 Guineas winner Native Trail by three lengths under a 3lb penalty, with last year’s dual Deauville Group 1 second Light Infantry third and Checkandchallenge fourth.

Hills said: “I was impressed with what he did under a penalty in the Bet365 Mile, and I’ve been really pleased with the way he’s come out of his race. He’s looking fantastic.

“He’s got a great record at Newmarket, but I don’t see why he shouldn’t be just as effective at Newbury, and he’s not ground dependent at all. It’s going to be a bigger field but he doesn’t have to make the running. It’s true he’s made all for his wins at Newmarket on his last two starts, but he can be ridden however you like – it’s just that that way of running works well on the Rowley Mile.”

Mutasaabeq wears blinkers again here, but Hills is not convinced of their importance. He said: “He’s not at all ungenuine and he never wears them at home. They perhaps help him to concentrate, but I wouldn’t be afraid to take them off one day.”

Crisford In Search Of Lockinge Crowning

Simon Crisford has some great Lockinge memories from his time with Godolphin, but this year he hopes to put his own name on the trophy, when he and his son Ed saddle last year’s big improver Jadoomi.

Godolphin have won the Lockinge a record eight times, and the first five of those wins came while Crisford was racing manager. They once again have a very strong contender in last year’s French 2000 Guineas and Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Modern Games, the ante-post favourite despite a shock defeat on his return to Keeneland for another Grade 1 last month.

However, Crisford is hopeful that Jadoomi, who last year won both the Celebration Mile and the Boomerang Mile before finishing an excellent third in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, will play a big part. He just wishes that the race had come a week earlier, before the ground started to dry out.

He said: “It’s going to be a super tough race and it’s Jadoomi’s reappearance, but he’s trained very well into it and he couldn’t be in better condition. We wouldn’t want to see firm in the description, and I can’t believe we will after so much rain, but obviously we were hoping that the rain would continue as he loves to get his toe in and it slows the others down.”

Looking back on his happy times on Lockinge day with Godolphin he said: “The memory that really stands out was the first win with Cape Cross in 1998. He was there as our pacemaker but he got away from them and they couldn’t catch him. 

“Our pacemakers in those days were very high-class horses in their own right and couldn’t be ignored. As it turned out he was not only a very, very good horse, but much more importantly he established himself as a great stallion too.

“We won the following year with Fly To The Stars, another who wasn’t our main hope and again made all, and then the year after that with Aljabr, so I’ve got great memories from back in the day. The Lockinge is of course a fantastic mile championship race.”

Dettori Pins Lockinge Hopes On Laurel

John and Thady Gosden saddle last year’s Sun Chariot Stakes runner-up Laurel, who was a good winner at Kempton on her reappearance and will be Frankie Dettori’s last ride in the race. 

Dettori has yet to partner the lightly-raced but clearly classy Juddmonte filly on the track, but he enjoyed a getting-to-know-you spin on her in Newmarket earlier this week. If successful, he will equal Lester Piggott’s record six wins in the Lockinge.

Last year’s winning trainer William Haggas is represented by My Prospero, who had good mile form last summer but appeared to appreciate stepping up in distance when narrowly beaten by Bay Bridge and Adayar in the QIPCO Champion Stakes.

Richard Hannon, who won with Olympic Glory (2014) and Night Of Thunder (2015) in his first two years holding the licence, will be represented by both Chindit, who beat Mutasaabeq a short head in last year’s Summer Mile at Ascot and was a recent Listed winner there, and Lusail, who was fourth in the latter race.

Andrew Balding saddles former Royal Ascot winner Berkshire Shadow, who is unbeaten this year in competitive races on the all-weather at Wolverhampton and Newcastle (The Wizard of Eye third).

A field of 13 is completed by Kevin Ryan’s Triple Time, who enjoyed a Group 3 win at Haydock last year on his belated reappearance, and Eve Johnson Houghton’s Jumby, who is stepping back up to a mile for the first time in well over two years.