Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby hopes Loxley can move nearer towards the William Hill St Leger by taking a step up in both class and trip in his stride in the Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket on July 12.
Appleby has earmarked the Group Three contest as the next target for the son of New Approach, who finished seventh in last year’s Racing Post Trophy and made a winning return in a novice contest at the July Course on Friday.
The Newmarket handler said: “I was pleased with that performance at Newmarket. I loved him as a two-year-old and I probably just threw him in at the deep end in the Racing Post Trophy.
“We went into Friday night’s race very confident the step up to a mile and a quarter would suit him well, which it did.
“I will be looking towards the Bahrain Trophy with him now and we will treat him as a horse that could go to the St Leger.”
Last year’s Duke of Edinburgh Stakes winner Rare Rhythm faces a spell on the sidelines after meeting with a setback which ruled him out of the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Appleby said: “Rare Rhythm has unfortunately had a setback and that is why he couldn’t take up his engagement in the Hardwicke.
“It is unlikely he will make the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket, either.”
