Charlie Appleby hopes Loxley tees himself up for another trip to Dubai with a good display in the 32Red Wild Flower Stakes at Kempton.
The four-year-old won the Grand Prix de Deauville in 2018, but has never quite recaptured those heights since then, failing to see out the trip in last year’s St Leger.
Second on his last two outings at Listed level, he wears first-time cheekpieces on Wednesday – with Appleby hoping they help him bridge the gap to John Gosden’s Weekender, the only runner in the field with a higher rating.
“Loxley has put up solid efforts on his last two runs and ran a good race over this course and distance last time out behind Young Rascal, who is a very good horse,” said Appleby.
“He has a bit to find on the book with Weekender – but if Loxley reproduces his last two performances, it should make him very competitive.
“Hopefully, he can run another good race, and we can look at taking him out to Dubai again for some of the nice races during the Carnival there.”
Weekender runs in the famous Khalid Abdullah silks, which will also be sported by Hugo Palmer’s Collide.
Another major player is Mark Johnston’s Mildenberger, who has not run since finishing a fine third behind Stradivarius in the Yorkshire Cup.
William Haggas’ Pablo Escobarr, Gosden’s Hameem, Clive Cox’s Hulcote and Ralph Beckett’s Hermosura complete the eight-runner field.
