Hannon hopeful as Newbury gears up for Lockinge Stakes this weekend

Richard Hannon Jr is bidding to match his father’s record of three winners in this Saturday’s Group 1 Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes.

Richard Hannon Snr won the Lockinge in 1993, 2010 and 2011.

Following in his father’s illustrious footsteps and winning the race in 2014 with Olympic Night and 2015 with Night of Thunder, Hannon is bidding to complete another hat-trick in Newbury’s feature Flat race of the season.

Following the confirmation stage, sixteen hopefuls remain in the £350,000 showpiece, the second contest in the mile category of the QIPCO British Champions Series.

Marlborough handler Hannon saddles both Chindit and the Al Shaqab owned Lusail, who were most recently seen in the Paradise Stakes at Ascot.

When commenting on Chindit’s triumph and Lusail’s fourth placed finish, Hannon said: “They have both come out of the race very well.

“Lusail will probably need riding a bit handier in the Lockinge and I was very pleased with Chindit’s performance.

“Both would have needed the race, they are both quite big lads now, so they will have improved a lot for that.”

Last year’s running was won in impressive style by the William Haggas-trained sensation Baaeed, who won 10 of his 11 races, including the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Group 1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.

Although none of the runners ever threatened the superstar Baaeed, Chindit ran a respectable race to finish third – and Hannon is hoping a similar performance might be good enough to win this time around.

“In the race last year he pulled a little bit and he’s not doing that this year, he seems much more relaxed,” he said.

“For me, he looks much more like the finished article.

“I was very pleased with last year’s run, he didn’t really stand a chance at beating Baaeed but there isn’t a Baaeed this year and I’m very hopeful.

Meanwhile, Lusail enters the race with more mixed fortunes, having failed to win since August 2021.

Hannon said: “Lusail is capable of anything on his day.

“We’ve got two very solid horses and if there are any chinks in the armour of the so-called superstars, they will find them.”

Local hopefuls are entered in the form of the Charlie Hills-trained Mutasaabeq and Andrew Balding’s Berkshire Shadow.