Horse Racing Tips: Mark Milligan's best bets for Lockinge day at Newbury

14:00, Newbury - Back Sacred Ground @ 11/43.75

It's Lockinge Day at Newbury on Saturday and the card is packed full of quality from start to finish and the first race that catches my interest from a punting perspective is this 1m 2f fillies' listed contest.

I was somewhat surprised to see Golden Orbit as short as 13/82.63 on the Sportsbook, but she's clearly held in high regard and made an eye-catching debut when beating a subsequent winner on her sole start at Newmarket back in September. While clearly open to bundles of improvement with just that one outing under her belt, she looks short enough for what she's actually achieved and I'm happy to take her on with Sacred Ground.

John & Thady Gosden's filly was a winner herself on debut at Yarmouth last year and then ran well to be second at this level on her own other start.

She then wasn't seen to best effect from the rear in the Pretty Polly at Newmarket on her comeback, sticking on to finish second again having been set plenty to do, and that performance can be marked up.

I expect her to be ridden more prominently this time and Sacred Ground remains with plenty of potential.

14:35, Newbury, Lockinge Stakes: Back Damysus @ 11/43.75

Damysus has yet to race at a mile having spent most of relatively short career over further, but the way he travelled in his recent comeback win in the Earl Of Sefton at Newmarket over 9f suggests he can be fully effective at this shorter trip and he could take high rank in the division this season.

The son of Frankel started out on the Derby trail last season, finishing second in the Dante before failing to beat a rival at Epsom, but he was dropped back in trip in the second half of last season and that proved the key to getting him back on track, with wins over 1m 2f at Deauville and then over a furlong shorter in the Group 3 Darley Stakes at HQ.

That recent win back at Newmarket saw him complete a hat-trick and he looks a ready-made top-class substitute for the stable's side-lined Field Of Gold in the top 1m events in the first half of the 2026 season.

Not that this will be an easy task, however, with plenty of dangers lurking in what is a belting field for this Group 1 contest.

Notable Speech stands out as one of the main threats, and there are just a few signs that the Charlie Appleby team are rounding back into some sort of form following a rare cold spell for the Godolphin trainer, while Zeus Olympios is another that can't be readily ruled out in the day's showpiece.

15:45, Newbury, London Gold Cup - Back Port Of Spain @ 4/15.00

The London Gold Cup is one of my favourite three-year-old handicaps of the year and it's nearly always strong from that produces plenty of horses to follow for the rest of the term.

Plenty of trainers like to target it with horse who could prove to be better than just handicapper sin time, with both Aidan O'Brien and Roger Varian amongst the recent winners of the race.

I did look long and hard at Varian's Al Azd, who seems to have taken a while to blossom but has really come into his own in winning his last two starts, though he wouldn't have the typical sort of profile you'd associate with a winner of this race, having already made seven starts, while this will be his third outing in handicaps.

In contrast, the Ballydoyle-trained Port Of Spain will be making his first start in handicap company having raced exclusively in Group company since breaking his maiden on his third start.

He seemed to improve for the step up to this 9f when third to stablemate Christmas Day in Group 3 company on his penultimate start, before not cutting much ice back at a mile in the Group 1 Criterium International when last seen. The selection will benefit from stepping up to 1m 2f for the first time here, while cheekpieces going on may enable him to eke out that bit extra.

Port Of Spain doesn't look badly treated at all from a mark of 103 on handicap debut and I expect him to go very close.

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