It’s not easy to go beyond the top two in the market in today’s Lockinge Stakes. Charyn kept good company last season, and he kept on well to win the Bet365 Mile at Sandown last time, and he should be better suited by the straight mile today. He ran well in the Mill Reef Stakes as a juvenile and in the Greenham Stakes last season on his only runs to date at Newbury. But he has plenty to find with Big Rock and Inspiral, and his chance probably hasn’t been under-rated by the market.

And choosing between the top two isn’t easy either, not with some uncertainty concerning the state of the ground. If it gets very soft, then probably Big Rock. He was so good on very soft ground in the QE2 at Ascot in October. But on good to soft ground or better, it’s probably Inspiral. She is top class on her day, and she beat Big Rock after all in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville last August. And there didn’t appear to be any excuses for the runner-up that day.

Can the King claim the crown?

The London Gold Cup presents a better betting opportunity, because King’s Gambit could morph into a high-class performer in time. This is a race that is often won by a horse who goes on to compete at a much higher level: in the last 10 years, Time Test has won it, Defoe has won it, Headman has won it, Communique has won it, Bay Bridge has won it, Cannock Chase has won it. It is often won by a horse who goes on to be a Group race performer, and sometimes a Group 1 winner.

Roger Charlton has won the race three times in the last eight years, and he won it with Al Kazeem in 2011, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Harry Charlton has had the race in mind for King’s Gambit for a while. It may not be a coincidence that the Saxon Warrior colt’s three runs to date have all been at Newbury.

Well beaten on his racecourse debut there in July last year, when he reared at the start, he put that run behind him when he ran out an impressive winner of a one-mile maiden at Newbury in August, keeping on well to get the better of City Burglar, with the pair of them coming a little way clear. City Burglar enhanced the form of that run two runs later when he kept on well to win a nursery at Ayr.

King’s Gambit’s third and final run last season was in the Haynes, Hanson and Clark Stakes back at Newbury, when he ran Bracken’s Laugh to a head. He closed on Bracken’s Laugh all the way to the line that day, getting past Blue Lemons and just failing to catch the winner, with the loose Palace Green among them.

The form worked out

That is another race that has been working out well. The front three pulled nicely away from Royal Supremacy, who won a nursery at Kempton next time, while Blue Lemons was only beaten a neck in a handicap at Sandown three weeks ago off a mark of 98. And Bracken’s Laugh, fifth behind Los Angeles in the Group 1 Critérium de Saint-Cloud next time, ran out an impressive winner of a valuable conditions race at Chelmsford on his debut this season, and he was beaten just half a length in the Dee Stakes last time by Capulet, when he didn’t have a great run through the race. He could be one of the main contenders for the Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Out of a full-sister to Coronation Stakes winner Sophisticat, King’s Gambit hasn’t run since then, so you have to take his race fitness on trust, but that makes sense. Connections are obviously happy with his mark of 93 after just three runs and, if this race has been on their radar for a while, you know that he will be ready. Time Test had a remarkably similar profile going into the race in 2015. Trained by Roger Charlton, he was making his seasonal debut then, after three runs as a juvenile, and he was racing off the same mark of 93.

Chantilly is obviously a player, he was impressive in winning at Leopardstown on his debut this season, and Aidan O’Brien won the race last year with Bertinelli, but he is short, and a 10lb hike for his Leopardstown win was not especially lenient. There are several unexposed horses in here who could take a significant step forward today, including Spirit Of Acklam and Fighter Command and Goodwood Odyssey, but King’s Gambit has more potential than most.

Good value in Adaay

Earlier on the day, Adaay In Devon could be the value in the Listed Carnarvon Stakes. Second to Sunday’s close-up French 1000 Guineas fourth Romantic Style in the Listed Bosra Sham Stakes at Newmarket last November, Rod Millman’s filly was impressive in winning twice this season already at Bath over five furlongs on different types of ground, a handicap and a listed race. She proved she could be at least as effective over six furlongs last time in a higher grade in the Group 3 Commonwealth Cup Trial at Ascot.

She wasn’t an unlucky loser that day, but she didn’t have a lot of racing room at the two-furlong marker when her rider Silvestre de Sousa wanted to go forward. The winner Jasour had flown by the time she got out, and she was well beaten by him in the end, but there was a lot to like about the way in which she finished off her race.

Prolific last year, she proved last time she belonged in Group company, and she could take another step forward today.

Recommended

1 point win, Adaay In Devon, 2.25 Newbury, 7/1 (generally)

1 point win, King’s Gambit, 3.00 Newbury, 9/2 (generally)