Audience causes shock 22/1 win in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury ahead of Royal Ascot target

The famous silks of Cheveley Park Stud were victorious in Saturday’s Group 1 Lockinge Stakes, though it was the outsider Audience that carried them to success.

Pre-race, many believed that the training partnership of John & Thady Gosden would win the £400,000 feature race with the favourite, Inspiral, though it was her owner and stablemate that led from pillar to post to land the spoils.

The five-year-old by Iffraaj was campaigned over seven furlongs last season and the Lockinge Stakes was his first attempt at a mile, but he saw out the new trip well to win by one-and-three-quarter lengths.

“He’s learned to relax more with age and when you leave a horse like that alone, he’s always going to be dangerous,” John Gosden explained. “I thought he was always going to be a part of it and maybe finish in the first four or five.

“As it was, they ignored him and got racing on the other side.

“The idea was to have him there with Big Rock so he would soften Big Rock up, but that didn’t really happen as he never saw Big Rock or anyone!

“He’s been working very well at home and I knew Rab [Havlin, jockey] would get a hell of a run out of him, but I didn’t think he would be left in splendid isolation.”

As for Inspiral, despite a gap of nearly 13 lengths between herself and the winner, Gosden walked away from her performance with a pleased expression.

He continued: "She needed this race to bring her on for Ascot, so I'm delighted with the run though it may not seem like it to other people.

"She's carrying rather a lot of condition.

“[The Queen Anne Stakes] probably would be the aim, but having spoken to Mrs Thompson [of Cheveley Park Stud], we’ll still look at the mile-and-a-quarter race [Group 1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes].

“When she won at the Breeders’ Cup, Frankie [Dettori] couldn’t pull her up, so when he came back, he said that we’ve been running over the wrong trip all her life!

“We can look at that race as well, but we will keep our options open over the next week.”

Inspiral is the 5/1 favourite for the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot while Audience is 16/1 with Unibet.

Earlier on the card, we got our first clues towards a potential British challenge in this year’s Melbourne Cup as Middle Earth won the Group 3 Aston Park Stakes.

Saturday’s success marked a fourth win in five for the son of Roaring Lion who is expected to have a competitive season.

“He was slow out the gates, and he often is, but he was slower than ever today,” part-trainer John Gosden said. “There was no real pace on, though Cemhaan tried to put a bit of pace on.

“He snuck up the rail and won by a nose, so if he had tried to go around them, he wouldn’t have won.

“He’s entered in the Hardwicke Stakes. We’ll chat to connections and see what the game plan will be, but it would be the most likely place to go.”

When asked about if the Melbourne Cup is his long-term aim, Thady Gosden said: "He's been bought into by Ciaron Maher, so the long-term objective would be to go there [to the Melbourne Cup].

"He's won over 1m4f here; if you could have a sharp two miles then Melbourne is that.

"You need a bit of speed [for the Melbourne Cup] as it's not like our two-mile races - he's got a good turn of foot.

"He's a horse who's always shown plenty of talent and one that would get better with age which he's obviously shown today."

In the big handicap of the day, King’s Gambit dazzled in the London Gold Cup to win by four lengths.

Trained by Harry Charlton, his father Roger won the race with Headman, Imperial Aviator, Al Kazeem, and Time Test, the latter of which went on to win two Group 2s.

“I just asked William [Buick, jockey] and he said about the Hampton Court Stakes for him”, trainer Charlton said. “That’s where Time Test went on to run in.

“We always thought he was a proper horse but he was exceptionally raw last year, so he has taken time.

“We’ve been lucky that he did some nice pieces of work at home and we thought we were ready ahead of today; he was 10 kilos heavier than last year, so there still might be a bit to come.”