To help set the scene for this Saturday’s BOYLE Sports Lockinge Stakes, we’re taking a trip down memory lane by ranking our top five former winners of Newbury’s early-season showpiece.
The Group One contest is often a launching pad for the year’s champion miler and has an outstanding roll of honour, the best of which are rated in reverse order here:
The 5 Greatest Lockinge Stakes Winners Ranked
5. Brigadier Gerard (1972)
5. Brigadier Gerard (1972)
We’ll start out with one only our older readers will remember watching live, but there will be few racing fans of all ages who haven’t heard of Dick Hern’s legendary performer.
Brigadier Gerard had blitzed the opposition at three when winning the 2000 Guineas, the St James’s Palace Stakes, the Sussex Stakes, the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and the Champions Stakes, so only four rivals turned up to take him on at Newbury the following season.
Grey Mirage and Crespinall were recent Group-class victors but the Brigadier simply brushed them aside after taking control of proceedings from the halfway mark under Joe Mercer.
4. Canford Cliffs (2011)
4. Canford Cliffs (2011)
A hat-trick of Group One wins the previous season had established Richard Hannon senior’s colt as an elite performer and he returned to action with a comfortable Lockinge success, cruising between horses to lead at the furlong pole and then quickening away under Richard Hughes.
Hannon hailed Canford Cliffs as “the best horse I’ve ever had” and he backed that up next time out by beating brilliant French mare Goldikova at Royal Ascot.
3. Baaeed (2022)
3. Baaeed (2022)
Having been unraced as a juvenile, the William Haggas-trained powerhouse stormed through the ranks during six straight wins at three, culminating with Group One victories at Longchamp and Ascot.
The Sea The Stars colt picked up where he left off when making short work of eight rivals at Newbury, with Jim Crowley going through the gears late on as Baaeed lengthened away to beat Real World by three and a quarter lengths.
“He is everything you want in a racehorse. Nothing seems to faze him. He doesn’t appear to have any weaknesses. I can’t think of one. He is really bright, has gears, relaxes and stays the mile extremely well – and has got a turn of foot. You couldn’t ask for more really.”
“He is everything you want in a racehorse,” said Crowley. “Nothing seems to faze him. He doesn’t appear to have any weaknesses. I can’t think of one.
“He is really bright, has gears, relaxes and stays the mile extremely well – and has got a turn of foot. You couldn’t ask for more really.”
2. Hawk Wing (2003)
2. Hawk Wing (2003)
Aidan O’Brien’s charge had suffered a slightly frustrating Classic campaign, winning the Eclipse but finishing second on four occasions, including in the 2000 Guineas and the Derby.
However, this was the day when Hawk Wing showed his incredible talents to the full, making all under Mick Kinane to spreadeagle a field which featured three other Group One winners, eventually scoring by 11 lengths from Where Or When.
“He’s beaten a Queen Elizabeth II winner (Where Or When), a Prix Jean-Prat winner (Olden Times) and a Breeders’ Cup winner (Domedriver) by the sort of margins more usually found in jump races.”
1. Frankel (2012)
1. Frankel (2012)
Henry Cecil’s all-time great heads pretty much every one of these lists he qualifies for and the Lockinge is no exception.
At the start of his four-year-old campaign, Frankel extended his unbeaten record to a perfect 10 by surging clear in the final furlong to slam Excelebration by five lengths.
“He showed that burst of acceleration. He’s not like anything I’ve sat on before. I looked at Excelebration at the start and he looked a million dollars – and to kick away from a horse like that is amazing.”
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