Filly Laurens Can Lead Home Lockinge Field

The hugely talented mare Laurens is back for another season in training as a four year old and she is thrown right into top class competition on her first start back from her winter break. She heads to Newbury on Saturday afternoon to run in the Lockinge Stakes where she will take on the boys, and some of the best milers in the country as she looks to get off to a winning start. She gets the mares allowance here, and I think that could make all the difference, giving her the slight edge over her competition.

The Karl Burke filly would probably have liked the ground a little quicker for her reappearance but that is the only negative I can find, and other than that she appears to have a great chance. She is the top rated horse in the field, without her allowance so all that does is gives her more of an advantage over the others. However, on top of that, she is also one of the most consistent horses in the field, and one of those you would happily bet on to run her race and put up a performance that is somewhere close to her best.

The same can’t really be said for some of her biggest rivals, and that includes the one to challenge her in the market, Le Brivido. This horse is having just his third start for Aidan O’Brien after moving from Andre Fabre but he was poor last season when he picked up an injury and then didn’t show too much on seasonal reappearance this season. The only thing that could be in his favour is if he needed that run, and will come on a lot here, but that is a risk you take if backing him.

Lord Glitters is another towards the head of the betting and while he came back to form a little in Dubai on his last start, his two final runs in the UK last season were well below his best. He is another who has top form in the book, but is he going to be able to put all that together and put up a big run here?

If there is a dark horse in the race then that could be Romanised. He won the 2000 Guineas in Ireland last season, but showed little after that in what was a disappointing end to his campaign. However, he did come back nicely on his seasonal reappearance, finishing 5th in the same race where Le Brivido finished 3rd. He may have been behind on that occasion, but he had a penalty to carry and was blocked off when coming with a run. a clear run and no penalty would have seen him go close to winning that race, and certainly put him ahead of Le Brivido. That could be a sign he is coming back, and he is probably the most interesting at bigger prices.

However, for me the best way to go is to go with proven form, the best horse in the race and the one that is most likely to put her front foot forward and run close to her best. That is the Karl Burke trained Laurens, and she will be hoping to start her four year old campaign in exactly the right way here by landing the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes.