Keltos snatches Lockinge for France
International challenger Keltos sealed the prestigious Juddmonte Lockinge Stakes with an impressive burst of acceleration at Newbury today.
Trained in France by Spanish-born Carlos Laffon-Parias, the grey colt is owned by London-based American businessman Gary Tanaka, just back from Singapore.
As Noverre hit the front with a quarter of a mile to run it briefly looked as if Keltos, who was always going nicely, might be in trouble as he got caught in the middle of the chasing pack.
But Olivier Peslier extricated the 9-1 chance from out of the ruck and the pair flew past 5-6 favourite Noverre who tried to bite the winner on his way past to take the first prize of over £77,000.
Beaten twice on visits to these shores last year, Keltos looked a different horse and has obviously thrived physically during the winter.
Noverre was three and a half lengths back in second with Olden Times (8-1) a solid third on his seasonal reappearance.
Laffon-Parias himself was in Seville for a family engagement but Tanaka was on hand to reveal future plans for the almost-white winner.
‘‘We were looking at the Queen Anne but he will get a penalty for winning a Group One so we could have a re-think,’’ the owner said.
‘‘Ultimately we will be looking at the Breeders’ Cup Mile and the Atto Mile at Woodbine.
‘‘I think he would have won even easier if there had been any rain here as he does like a little bit of give.
‘‘He showed the same turn of foot that he used to win at Saint-Cloud.’’
Godolphin’s racing manager, Simon Crisford, said that Noverre would now be stepped up to a mile and a quarter.
‘‘We tried to get away with running him again at a mile when we thought he might really want further but it didn’t work,’’ Crisford said.
‘‘If the frontrunners had taken us along for a little bit longer then it might have been different but the winner has a real turn of foot.’’
Peslier had earlier missed out on the chance of a double as problems with his flight delayed his arrival to the course.
Instead it was Irish champion Michael Kinane who took the reins as Shagraan held off the spirited challenge of Epicentre to take the TFM Cyntergy Handicap (for the London Gold Cup).
Peslier arrived at the track just as the judge called the result of the photo-finish.
Kinane went on to complete a double when Barathea Blazer landed a monster gamble in the Tote Scoop6 Stakes.
The Peter Harris-trained three-year-old, available at 10-1 in the betting offices this morning, was supported at all rates down to 11-4.
Again Kinane had to be at his strongest as Aker Wood threw down a determined challenge.
But Barathea Blazer stayed on bravely to empty the bookmakers’ satchels by half a length.
‘‘I couldn’t believe it when I saw they had only had 1mm of rain here overnight,’’ said Harris. ‘‘I thought he would be much happier if it had rained but he has done it well.
‘‘We’ll have to see what the handicapper does with him now.’’
But Kinane’s double was somewhat tainted when the stewards ruled him guilty of careless riding on Olden Times in the feature race and handed him a two-day suspension (May 27 & 28).
Henry Cecil’s indifferent start to the season took a turn for the better in no uncertain terms as High Pitched ran away with the Grundon Stakes.
Richard Quinn was always travelling sweetly on the four-year-old, and despite giving weight away to all of his rivals, the 4-1 shot pulled clear to score by seven lengths from Warrsan.
Arctic Owl, making a return to Flat racing for the first time since November 2000, finished a respectable third.
The manner of the victory came in direct contrast to the problems High Pitched went through before the start when he had to be led in backwards into the parade ring.
‘‘He’s a very genuine and sweet horse but also a funny old devil,’’ said Cecil.
‘‘Ideally we would like to put blinkers on him to get him down to the start but he runs too freely in them so he couldn’t wear them in the race.
‘‘He was led down to the start and I was relieved when there wasn’t a parade for this race.
‘‘He could have been sold at the end of last year if the price had been high enough but I wanted to keep him as a four-year-old as I have always thought he was going to be a very good horse, a Group One horse.’’
High Pitched has a choice of future engagements in the coming weeks, including the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and the Coronation Cup but the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot is at present the favoured option.
