Time Lock wins a second Princes Royal in style

Homebred Time Lock (Frankel) won the Gr.3 Princess Royal Stakes at Newmarket for a  second year running with a five length winning margin on Friday (27th September).

Taken from the European Bloodstock News, 28th September 2024:

Harry Charlton’s charge was sent off the 13/8 favourite in a field of five on testing ground. The daughter of Frankel was settled just behind the leaders by Ryan Moore early on and, running past the bushes with two and a half furlongs to travel, she narrowly hit the front. The five-year-old quickened up smartly running into the dip and went clear in the final furlong, winning by five lengths over the Jessica Harrington-trained Comic Book, who made it a 1-2 for Frankel, whilst John and Thady Gosden’s Place Of Safety made most of the running and finished a further half-length back in third.

Albeit this year’s running was in completely different conditions to 12 months ago, this was another comfortable success in the Princess Royal Stakes for Time Lock - these two races remain her sole Group race wins to date. She had, however, run creditably this season in top company without getting her head in front. Having opened her campaign with a second-placed finish in the Gr.2 Jockey Club Stakes over course and distance, she then failed to fire in the Gr.1 Coronation Cup, before finishing a fine third in the Gr.2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes on the July Course. After last season’s Gr.3 victory, she was aimed at the Gr.1 British Champions Fillies’ & Mares’ Stakes at Ascot where she finished seventh, a race which may yet await her again.