IT wasn’t all about the Lockinge on Saturday for William Haggas, as the master of Somerville Lodge landed a treble on the card.

His wife Maureen was with their daughter Maryanne in Dubai where she was due to give birth to her second child, and the prospect of being a grandfather again was very much the highlight of his day, as he told reporters.

Ilarab (Tom Marquand) did his bit for the team by getting the better of French St Leger winner Scope (Ralph Beckett/Rob Hornby) by a neck to register his second Group 3 in the Al Rayyan Stakes over course and distance, having taken the St Simon Stakes here in the autumn.

The pair pulled four lengths clear of the front-running Without A Fight (Simon and Ed Crisford/Andrea Atzeni), and the winner was returned at 9/2.

Ilarab started slowly, but recovered to race in touch, and was produced at the same stage as the runner-up, with the pair having a ding-dong battle throughout the final furlong.

Credit must go to Scope, who was conceding 4lb to the winner for his success in the Prix Royal Oak, and Ralph Beckett announced that he would next run in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, providing the ground wasn’t “rattling quick”.

Ilarab has a preference for racing left-handed, which limits his options, and means he will miss Royal Ascot, with Haggas nominating the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud as his most likely target in the short term.

Tiber in full Flow

There were a couple of listed races on the Newbury card, with the six-furlong Carnarvon Stakes providing the first leg of the Haggas treble as the progressive Tiber Flow (15/8 favourite) proved himself at least as good on turf as the all-weather on his first attempt on the surface.

Runner-up in the three-year-old contest at the All-Weather Finals, he got first run under Tom Marquand to beat the fast-finishing Ehraz (Richard Hannon/Jim Crowley) by a short-head.

Both horses are likely to head to the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, although Tiber Flow is proven over seven furlongs, and his trainer suggested afterwards that he will also be entered for the Jersey Stakes over that trip at the royal meeting.

Gold for Israr in Crowley double

JIM Crowley was arguably unlucky not to win on Ehraz given how well that colt finished, but he still registered a double in the Shadwell silks as he produced Israr (John and Thady Gosden) from last to first to win the valuable London Gold Cup in a race where the leaders went off at an unsustainable pace.

Nashwa impresses

Nashwa (Hollie Doyle) took the Haras De Bouquetot Fillies’ Trial Stakes for John and Thady Gosden in the colours of Imad Alsagar. The 5/6 favourite had made a big impression when winning a Haydock novice on her return by a wide margin and supplemented that win to earn herself blacktype as she beat Hughie Morrison’s outsider Stay Alert (Josephine Gordon) by a comfortable length and three-quarters.

She is reportedly on target for a crack at the Oaks at Epsom and is now a 6/1 shot for that after this performance.

Ottoman Fleet gets a fair wind

ON a low-key card at Newmarket, Ottoman Fleet landed the Listed Fairway Stakes for Charlie Appleby and James Doyle, the 13/8 shot getting the better of Zain Sarinda (Tom Clover/Jack Mitchell) by half a length after the latter had deposed him as favourite.

The winner got going just too late when second in a strong novice at Newbury, and he showed how unlucky he was with a pleasing effort here, despite stumbling badly at the start.

He’s open to plenty of improvement, and it’s hard to know where his ceiling might be.