The two Group One juvenile events here on Saturday were won by two-year-olds that promise to add to their haul of top-level races at three, but perhaps the strongest portent of the 2026 season came in the opening race, as Bow Echo extended his unbeaten record to three races in the Group Two Royal Lodge Stakes.
Bow Echo is a solid 12-1 chance for next season’s 2,000 Guineas on 2 May – the Classic could be his next race – but it was the confident, perma-smiling presence of Billy Loughnane in his saddle that could become a motif for next summer.
This season has been another big step forward for Loughnane, who is six months away from his 20th birthday and did not ride a horse in public until the tail end of 2022. He notched his first Group One winner in mid-August on the Godolphin-owned Rebel’s Romance. It is his day-to-day form from the start of July, though, that suggests a first serious tilt at the jockeys’ title is a distinct possibility next year.
At least 20 winners per month is title form – Oisin Murphy, the champion-elect, has notched at least 22 in every month of the race, which started in early May – and Loughnane has hit the same level over the past three months. Murphy is gone beyond recall this year, with 128 wins before Saturday, but Loughnane, in second with 93, is guaranteed to finish as runner-up.
Next year’s title race kicks off on Guineas weekend when all being well, Bow Echo will put his unbeaten record on the line in the colts’ Classic. “He showed a nice turn of foot and handled the track great,” Loughnane said. It [the 2,000 Guineas] looks the right spot for him. I liked the way he came down the Dip [inside the final quarter-mile]. I was still going well and it’s exciting for next year.”
The Middle Park Stakes winner would often be viewed as a Guineas candidate, but Wise Approach, who overcome a near-disastrous stumble in the early strides to win the Group One contest by three-quarters of a length, is seen as more of a sprinter at three by his trainer, Charlie Appleby.
Despite almost parting company in the opening strides, this was an impressive performance by Wise Approach, who found a burst of speed to get back into contention two furlongs out and then quickened again to hold off the late challenge of Brussels. “I said to William [Buick] to put him there on the line,” Appleby said, “and he did that, but it wasn’t an easy watch. Full credit to William and the horse.
“He’s a half-brother to a good sprinter [the 2021 Middle Park winner, Perfect Power], and I’d say that will be it for the year, but we’ll see what the team want to do. The Commonwealth Cup [over six furlongs at Royal Ascot] will be the plan for next year.”
Hamilton 1.50 Eat Pray Run 2.25 Kranjcar 3.00 Arkenstaar 3.35 Jannas Journey 4.10 Kodiac Thriller 4.45 Ganesha 5.20 Dandy’s Angel
Newton Abbot 1.56 Centara 2.31 Dickens 3.06 John Barbour 3.41 Tropical Speed 4.16 Bagheera Ginge 4.50 The Height Of Fame
Brighton 2.10 Starsong 2.45 Fierce Fortitude 3.20 Arvana Belle 3.55 Uncle Dick 4.30 Love You Back 5.05 Toussarok (nb) 5.40 Roman Spring
Southwell 5.00 Universal Story 5.30 Art Gallery 6.00 Rose Of Honour 6.30 Holy Fire 7.00 Grace Angel (nap) 7.30 Back From Dubai 8.00 Stellenbosch 8.30 A Pint Of Bear
Aidan O’Brien took the card’s first Group One, the Cheveley Park Stakes, for a record-extending sixth time with True Love, the 2-1 favourite. True Love was always travelling well for Wayne Lordan and though Donnacha O’Brien’s Havana Anna was also going well two out, his father’s filly found more to win by just under a length.
“She is a big powerhouse and very quick,” O’Brien said. “I wouldn’t be sure she’d stay [a mile] in a Guineas, she is quick and by No Nay Never, who is a big influence for speed. But you never know until they get through the winter and into the spring.”
True Love is a 16-1 chance for next year’s 1,000 Guineas and a 7-2 shot for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf at Del Mar on 31 October, which is run over an extended mile.
