Lord Glitters finds good spot in Lockinge Stakes

Six-year-old Lord Glitters stands a decent chance of winning his first Group 1 race Saturday at Newbury in England when he starts in the Lockinge Stakes.

Lord Glitters late Thursday still was priced at 8-1 in overseas antepost markets, odds that would be easy to take in the Lockinge, a straight-course mile.

Fourteen entrants passed the Lockinge’s final declaration stage with Le Brivido the surprising early betting favorite. Le Brivido makes his second start under the care of trainer Aidan O’Brien having finished third in the Group 3 Gladness Stakes on April 13 at Naas, his first start in nearly a year. Five-year-old Le Brivido was undoubtedly a talented 3-year-old of 2017 while based in France with trainer Andre Fabre, but assuming he returns to the form that saw him finish second in the French 2000 Guineas ought to require a better price than what’s being offered.

The Lockinge’s second choice as of Thursday was Laurens, who is set to make her 4-year-old debut in a race won 10 of the last 12 seasons by a 4-year-old. Laurens had an awesome 3-year-old campaign during which she won four Group 1's, though she went a bridge too far in the Group 1 Champions Mile, struggling home eighth of 13 on a soft course. Laurens is a five-time winner over one mile and is proven on a straight course, though it is easy to see her improving after her comeback run Saturday.

The longest price in the field is less than 30-1 with the bookmakers, a sign of a contentious race with no easy tosses, but Lord Glitters is the choice here.

A 6-year-old hasn’t won the Lockinge since 2005, but the European mile division has been relatively soft the last couple years and appears to lack standouts again in 2019. And Lord Glitters is not your standard 6-year-old. Trainer David O’Meara only began training him late in 2017 and Lord Glitters developed into a very capable miler last year, ending his season with two excusable defeats. The first of them came in the Group 1 Woodbine Mile, where Lord Glitters’s travel went all wrong from the start, according to his trainer, and compromised his performance. Shipping trouble aside, the Woodbine Mile unfolded at a pedestrian pace that gave Lord Glitters little chance to make up ground, and five weeks later at Ascot his campaign ended with a sixth-place finish over soft ground he doesn’t appreciate.

O’Meara took Lord Glitters to Dubai for his first start this season and Lord Glitters delivered a very strong run to finish third in the $6 million Dubai Turf, beaten only by a pair of excellent Japanese females, Almond Eye and Vivlos. There is nothing of that caliber in the Lockinge standing between him and a first success at the highest level.