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2025’s Lockinge With Ladies Day To Host Extra World Pool Races
This year’s Lockinge with Ladies Day will feature an eight race card, with all races being included in the World Pool, up from the five races included in the Hong Kong Jockey Club-powered pools in 2024.
Newbury’s showpiece May meeting has been included in the World Pool since 2023 but this year’s edition will see the whole card included for the first time as World Pool strengthen their offering in the UK. For the second year, the World Pool UK & Ireland Jockeys’ Championship will begin on 2000 Guineas Day, with the winning rider of each World Pool race throughout the season earning points determined by the World Pool SP of their mount.
The championship will run until British Champions Day at Ascot in October when a prize of £50,000 will be given to a charity of the eventual winning rider’s choice.
Last year, Billy Loughnane claimed the top prize, largely as a result of winning the Coventry Stakes aboard Rashabar which returned a World Pool dividend of 129.90 (v 66/1 SP) and donated the £50,000 to the Christy Lambe Foundation.
During Q2, World Pool will be in action in Hong Kong, with three Group 1s on Champions Day (27 April) set to be commingled as well as the final Group 1 of the season, the Champions and Chater Cup (25 May).
Alongside Newbury’s increased involvement, World Pool’s programme is also set to take in the UAE, South Africa and Australia where new fixtures have also been added, with World Pool scheduled to be in operation at Morphettville for South Australian Derby Day (3 May) and Doomben for the Doomben 10000 (17 May) and Doomben Cup Day (24 May) for the first time.
Sam Nati, Head of Commingling at the Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “We are already looking forward to what will be a busy Q2 for World Pool as we anticipate our return to the UK and Ireland for 2025, and we’re delighted to have stengthened our offering with a new race day added at the Curragh and to have extended Newbury’s Lockinge Day card to a full World Pool meeting.
“We’re committed to adding the best races from around the globe to the World Pool calendar, so extending our involvement in Lockinge Day and taking in the Irish 2000 Guineas is an exciting development. We look forward to bringing these new races to our global customers as well as returing to some of our best performing meetings at Royal Ascot and on Derby Day.”
