Lockinge winner Audience to make seasonal return over sprint trip in $1.5 million contest

Last year’s Lockinge Stakes winner Audience will start his season in the Al Quoz Sprint on Dubai World Cup night, and joint-trainer Thady Gosden thinks he has the pace to handle the 6f trip.

The six-year-old will be making his first excursion outside Britain in the Group 1 race at Meydan on April 5, which is also set to include fellow Newmarket-trained runners Believing and West Acre.

Robert Havlin, who has ridden Audience in all but two of his 17 career starts, keeps the ride in the $1.5 million contest having partnered him in recent work on Newmarket's Al Bahathri Polytrack gallop.

The son of Iffraaj had his most productive year yet in 2024 when adding the Group 2 Lennox Stakes at Goodwood to his all-the-way Lockinge win over subsequent champion miler Charyn. He may have been unsuited to the soft ground when finishing 12th in the Group 1 British Champions Sprint at Ascot in October.

Audience beats Charyn in the 2024 LockingeCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Gosden said: “It is nice that Audience has been invited for the Al Quoz Sprint. He goes well fresh, as he showed when winning the Lockinge last year, and he displayed plenty of natural speed when winning the Lennox Stakes at Goodwood over seven [furlongs].

"Dropping back in trip should not be a problem, especially at Meydan where it’s a very even six [furlongs]. He’s been training well on the Al Bahathri and he is very much on target. It’s his first overseas trip, but hopefully he’ll handle it well as he’s an older horse now and more sensible.”

Audience is set to be joined in the Meydan line-up by the George Boughey-trained Believing, who will be making her first start in the Coolmore silks having changed hands at the Tattersalls December Sale for three million guineas, after being sold by Highclere Thoroughbred Racing.

The five-year-old is fit from a recent racecourse gallop at Chelmsford and will be making her first appearance since finishing third in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp in October over five furlongs.

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