RED Ransom son Ouqba served notice of his future Royal Ascot intentions after finishing runner-up in today’s Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
Ouqba’s three-quarter length defeat by Paco Boy contained enough merit to prompt a re-match in the time-honoured Queen Anne Stakes Gr.1 in a month’s time.
“Ouqba gave us lots to shout about with his fantastic second in the Lockinge,” trainer Barry Hills’s website reported on Monday.
“Paco Boy is clearly one of the best milers we’ve seen for some years, so to finish second to him on his first start of the year was a great achievement by Ouqba.
“He has been going really well at home and looked like he had improved a lot over the winter. It’s great to see that he can now mix it with the best and the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot will be his next outing.”
Ouqba is one of 96 individual stakeswinners sired by Red Ransom whose Gr.1 winning son Onemorenomore will begin his stud career at Vinery this season.
