Masterpiece from Lead Artist in the Lockinge

Lead Artist bounced back from a below-par effort in last month’s Gr.2 Sandown Mile on dead ground to earn top-level glory in Saturday's Gr.1 Lockinge Stakes over a mile at Newbury on a faster surface.

Taken from the European Bloodstock News and Racing Post, 18th May 2025:

Always up with the pace, the son of Dubawi led narrowly after a furlong. The favourite Dancing Gemini, who had run out an impressive winner of the Sandown Mile last time out, loomed up dangerously on his left at the furlong pole and headed him, but the winner fought back gamely and regained the advantage close to home. The winning distance was just a neck, with last year’s Gr.1 Irish 2,000 Guineas and Gr.1 St James’s Palace Stakes hero Rosallion a further two and a quarter lengths adrift back in third on his seasonal reappearance. The 2024 Gr.1 2000 Guineas winner Notable Speech ran fourth.

This was a third Stakes victory for the four-year-old but a first at the highest level. He was victorious at Gr.3 level twice last season in the Thoroughbred Stakes at Goodwood and the Darley Stakes at Newmarket.

John Gosden commented: "He likes summer, fast ground and he showed that today. He's a powerful horse with a lot of speed. I thought he'd be in the first three but didn't necessarily think he'd win it. It was such an elite race that if you finished in the first four, you're a high-class horse."

"He got a peach of a ride from Oisin," said the winning trainer. "We discussed it before and he gave the horse some space. It was a perfect ride. Remember, this horse has won over nine furlongs, so whereas Ryan [Moore on Dancing Gemini] has come to get him, he had the stamina to come back again. This was a stiff test at mile today and he has a reserve of talent."

"The Queen Anne is the next obvious step," said Gosden. "If it's nice ground that's where he'll go. When you look at his build and the way he's made, I think a mile and a quarter would be too much distance for him. He's got so much natural speed that the last thing he wants to be doing is going a mile and a quarter with an uphill finish. He's fast and I think the stiff mile of Ascot will suit him best."

A Juddmonte homebred, he is the first foal out of the Gr.2 Prix de Sandringham winner and Gr.1-placed Obligate (Frankel), a granddaughter of the Listed winner and outstanding broodmare Hasili. The daughter of Kahyasi was the first Northern Hemisphere broodmare to produce five Gr.1 winners, Heat Haze (Green Desert), Banks Hill, Champs Elysees, Intercontinental and Cacique (all by Danehill), as well as the Gr.2 winner and multiple Gr.1-placed champion sire Dansili (also by Danehill).