Palace Pier faces 11 in Lockinge

PA Sport Reporters
May 13, 2021 10:15 am

My Oberon and Top Rank among opposition for Gosdens’ Group One star.

Palace Pier is set to face 11 rivals as the brilliant miler bids to justify short odds in the Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.

The John and Thady Gosden-trained four-year-old is already odds on at around 4-7 for Saturday’s Group One on the strength of his top-class form.

The Kingman colt has won six of his seven starts, including twice at the top level – and he made a winning reappearance in the bet365 Mile at Sandown last month.

What a race! Palace Pier wins the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes for @FrankieDettori and John Gosden! #RoyalAscot @Ascot pic.twitter.com/FO18nWrQBc
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 20, 2020

Palace Pier’s only defeat so far came when he was third to The Revenant in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot on unsuitably soft ground in October.

Despite his outstanding credentials, Palace Pier has not scared off the opposition.

Among the declarations is fellow Group One scorer, David O’Meara’s hardy veteran Lord Glitters – while other Group-race winners include the John Quinn-trained Safe Voyage, James Tate’s progressive Top Rank, My Oberon, from William Haggas’s stable, and William Jarvis’ Lady Bowthorpe.

Aidan O’Brien’s Lope Y Fernandez is the sole Irish challenger – with the dozen runners completed by Bless Him, Century Dream, Happy Power, Lord Campari and Pogo.