Mustashry makes grade for Stoute

Mustashry scaled new heights at the age of six as he raised Sir Michael Stoute’s record tally of Lockinge Stakes wins to eight.

A first Group One, in Newbur y’s Al Shaqab -sponsored m i l e f e a t u r e o n S a t u r d a y, came Mustashr y’s way at the expense of pride-of-the-north runner-up Laurens.

S h e i k h H a m d a n A l M a k - toum’s gelding and jockey Jim Crowley provided the highlight on another famous day f o r S t o u t e – wh o s e C r ys t a l Ocean was an emphatic, long odds-on winner of the Group Three Al Rayyan Stakes.

T h e L o c k i n g e w a s h i g h - l y c o m p e t i t i ve i n p r o s p e c t a n d r e a l i t y b u t Mu s t a s h r y and Laurens had the finish t o t h e m s e l v e s , t h e f o r m e r prevailing by t wo and a half lengths at 9-1, with Accidental Agent a further half length away and Ken Condon’s Irish challenger Romanised running well for fourth.

Stoute – for whom not only Crystal Ocean but Queen Power (in the Listed Haras De Bouq u e t o t Fi l l i e s’ Tr i a l S t a ke s) supplied a big-race treble – was full of praise for the role played by Mustashry’s groom Jade Ransley.

He said: “We knew this horse was in very good shape, and I have to confess that it’s Jade who has made this horse – she rides him and has looked after him from the very start.

“He’s had his niggles, but I’ve never had him better.”

Unsurprisingly, Royal Ascot looms as a next prospective challenge.