The 2025 Dante Festival ends on Friday, but the next significant racing event soon springs into view. Less than 24 hours after the Knavesmire action concludes, Newbury stages its signature flat event of the year.
First striding onto the Berkshire track in 1958, the £400,000 Lockinge Stakes has risen in prominence over the years. Granted Group 1 status in 1995, the race is now firmly established as one of the premier one-mile events for runners aged four and older.
Thursday morning saw the final declarations for the latest edition of a race won by sublime talents, including Frankel, Baeed, and Brigadier Gerard in previous years. Nine stand their ground in 2025, headed by one of the star three-year-olds from 2024.
Image by Matthew Wellman, via flickr.
Rosallion Ready to Roll
Successful with Olympic Glory (2014) and Night Of Thunder (2015), Richard Hannon Jr. needs just one more win to match his father’s tally of three Lockinge Stakes wins. In Rosallion, he may have the horse to get the job done.
Sired by one of the greatest sprinters of the modern era, Blue Point, and out of a mare by Derby winner New Approach, Rosallion boasts an appealing mix of speed and stamina on paper – a combination often ideal for the one-mile trip.
In seven career starts, the striking bay has delivered on that pedigree potential. A Group 1 winner as a juvenile, he bounced back from a runner-up effort in the 2000 Guineas to claim the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes, before missing the remainder of the season with a setback. An absence of 333 days poses a question, but at a general price of 7/4, the market suggests he is the horse they all have to beat.
Teal Dancing to the Top Table
In a field dominated by four-year-olds, the Rogel Teal runner Dancing Gemini sits second in most betting lists at around 3/1. By Camelot and out of an Australia mare, this hat-trick-seeking star boasts an overload of Sadler’s Wells in his pedigree, which is rarely a bad thing for a racehorse.
Having finished 15 lengths behind Rosallion as a two-year-old and failed to win in five outings last season, Dancing Gemini wouldn’t have much chance based on his juvenile or three-year-old form. However, the early evidence suggests he is a much improved performer at four.
Returning with an emphatic Listed success at Doncaster, he backed that up with a comfortable verdict over the reopposing Tamfana in the Group 2 bet365 Mile last time out. Seemingly in the form of his life, can he finally land a Group 1 at the sixth time of asking?
Notable Challenge from Godolphin Star
With nine previous wins, Godolphin are the most successful owners in Lockinge Stakes history. The most recent of those victories came courtesy of Modern Games, who handed trainer Charlie Appleby a first win in the race in 2023. Two years later, Godolphin and Appleby rely on the 2,000 Guineas hero from 2024, Notable Speech.
Arriving at Newmarket with only three low-key all-weather starts to his name, Notable Speech crept under the 2,000 Guineas radar. However, upon the conclusion of the opening colt’s Classic, there was no doubt that this son of Dubawi belonged at the top table.
The remainder of the campaign was something of a rollercoaster, with woeful efforts in the St James’s Palace Stakes and Prix du Moulin sandwiching a sizzling Sussex Stakes success. Consistency appears to have become an issue, but if fit and firing on his return, he may have hopes of repeating that 2,000 Guineas verdict over Rosallion.
With Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Fallen Angel, impressive Earl Of Sefton Stakes champ Persica, and the regally bred Lead Artist also in the field, the 2025 Lockinge Stakes promises to be a cracker. Tune in at 2:35 pm on Saturday to find out who comes out on top.