Verrazano and Sruthan in Lockinge line-up Verrazano will have his first start for Aidan O'Brien in Saturday's Group One JLT Lockinge Stakes at Newbury. A dual Grade One winner in America, he finished fourth in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile when with Todd Pletcher and was last seen taking third in the Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct in November. Further Irish interest is added to the Lockinge mix by Paul Deegan's unexposed Sruthan, who has won his last two starts in Group Three company. The home team is headed by Olympic Glory, who claimed the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot last October but was then unsuited by the fast ground at the Breeders' Cup. His trainer Richard Hannon also runs a useful second string in Montiridge. Brian Ellison's Top Notch Tonto chased home Olympic Glory at Ascot but could finish only fourth on his comeback at Sandown. He will clash again with the Andrew Balding-trained Tullius, who ran out a three-and-three-quarter-length winner at the Esher venue. Chopin, trained in Germany by Andreas Wohler, ran in the Derby and the Tercentenary Stakes at Royal Ascot last summer and was supplemented for the Lockinge earlier this week. The field is completed by Michael Attwater's Empire Storm, formerly trained by Wohler.
