Features / Timeform / 17 May 2010 / Leave a comment Free £25 Bet

Timeform's Perspective entries on the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes...

"PACO BOY has looked formidable so far, though making hay at an early stage of the season, the championship events all to come, and he'll have to be this good and probably more when Rip Van Winkle and Goldikova are back"

A worthy Group 1 for the performance of Paco Boy alone, and the improved Ouqba ensured he didn't have it all his own way, the pair clear of a bunch that admittedly aren't top-level milers, save for Zacinto who obviously had something wrong. It played into the hands of the winner (and Ouqba to an extent) that the race tested speed more than stamina, the gallop steady to halfway, and the field was virtually in line across the track two furlongs out before class told, Paco Boy even more superior than he needed to show under a trademark Hughes ride.

PACO BOY has looked formidable so far, though making hay at an early stage of the season, the championship events all to come, and he'll have to be this good and probably more when Rip Van Winkle and Goldikova are back, which is certainly on the cards from him, at least under the right circumstances, as Paco Boy is rather more conditional than the other top milers in that he needs the emphasis on speed. Everything was set up for him to turn it on here and he did so in style, cruising through with all those around him covered, then shaken up in the last half furlong to cosily reel in Ouqba, who had poached a length on him. It's all systems go for his defence in the Queen Anne, but the race is due to be higher class this year with both Rip Van Winkle and Goldikova reportedly on course to start their campaign there.

OUQBA's ascension has taken a while, more stuttering than smooth, but he's in the top bracket now, this just his second attempt at one mile (first the Guineas), though as the race went his seven furlong speed helped towards his big performance, quickening best of the rest once switched widest into the clear, getting the jump on Paco Boy, flattered to finish within a length of him;. Though this may encourage connections to go for the Queen Anne at Ascot, where he's one from one (Jersey), he's unlikely to find the extra required against the division's very best, clearly well primed for this comeback, but he'll win Group 2s, at this trip or back at seven furlongs. He has generally kept to good/good to firm ground.

LORD SHANAKILL misleadingly has a Group 1 on his CV, last year's Prix Jean Prat substandard, and this reappearance exposes his limitations in top company, even if he is a bit better than he showed, leading briefly over one furlong out and possibly needing the run, acknowledging the general well-being of his new stable, as he's had an unsettled time of it in the last year, going from trainer to trainer including a stint in America to take in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. As that attempt would suggest, he's long since had plenty of speed, winning the Mill Reef as a two-year-old.

PIPEDREAMER is late in life to expect him to hit the same heights for new connections he did with John Gosden, so there may be no dramatic improvement from this first start back even with allowances for fitness and the trip, mostly campaigned over a mile and a quarter (on good or firmer going).

THE CHEKA remains with untapped potential but needs his sights lowering to start expressing himself all the more, finding this competition too hot while he's still in the development stage, slowly away and again green as he galloped, also on the fastest ground he's faced.

STIMULATION is at least up and running earlier this season, paving the way for him to start reviving, still only a five-year-old and barely seen in 2009, and this return beyond his means (for class and probably stamina as well) should help him back in the groove, unhassled in the lead for six furlongs. He was Timeform rated 121 after winning the 2008 Challenge Stakes.

KARGALI's surprise win in the Gladness (on testing ground) still left him plenty more to find in this grade, not up to it, regardless of the firmer conditions.

PRINCE OF DANCE will have to go back to the drawing board as he's not looked the same horse this year allowing for the class jump.

ZACINTO looked on his way to the top in the QEII, finishing closer to Rip Van Winkle than Paco Boy did in the Sussex, but there's a big question mark over him now after signing off last year all but pulled up in the Breeders' Cup and returning with another washout, clearly having some problem.

Sent in loose-leaf parts throughout the season, Timeform Perspective builds up into an in-depth account of the racing year.

Tags: Lockinge, Lord Shanakill, Ouqba, Paco Boy