Wokingham Stakes racing tip: Probe and Apollo One trending towards Royal Ascot glory
- John Fearn
- 23 June 2023
Fresh from his tasty each-way returns on Thursday, Andrew of Fiosrach applies his popular trends analysis to one of the most wide-open handicaps on the five-day Royal Ascot card.
17:00 Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap) (6 furlongs)
Our trends-based selection for the Buckingham Palace Stakes on Thursday was Percy's Lad, who came seventh at 50/1 (was available at 80/1 in the morning), so we hope you backed it with a bookmaker offering those extra places as advised.
Of the other shortlisted horses, Northern Express was third at 16/1 and Spanish Star finished fifth at 28/1, so a good day all round for anyone who backed all three.
In addition, our ante-post selection using trends for the Gold Cup, Subjectivist, which was advised each-way at 10/1 and returned a profit by finishing third at a well-backed 9/2 at the off.
The Wokingham is one of the toughest handicap puzzles of the week at Royal Ascot and always has a big field. My view is that to win this race a horse needs to be capable of winning over six furlongs while also having the strength to stay seven furlongs.
Planet Sport Bet:
Money Back if 2nd to SP Favourite in all Royal Ascot Races
Winning 7/2 favourite Cape Byron was an exception that proves the rule back in 2019, while last year Rohaan defended the title that he landed in 2021 (8/1) by surging through the field in thrilling style to win at an even tastier 18/1 price.
Rohaan returns to Royal Ascot but this time runs in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes earlier on the card.
As ever, I have used the multiple trends below to reduce the field from the twenty eight declared runners:
This is a good race for trends analysis and the trends have reduced the field to the following four runners:
Probe,
Apollo One,
Lethal Levi and
Khanjar
Suggested bet 1:
Probe each-way in the 17:00 at Royal Ascot
Probe has the eye-catching booking of Ryan Moore and comes here after finishing fifth at Epsom, where he didn't seem to handle the course.
Previously he won a good handicap at Newmarket and importantly has won at distances from six furlongs up to a mile. He lacks course form, but this course should suit better than Epsom and any rain before Saturday evening will help his cause further.
Lethal Levi was second in a decent handicap at York last time, but the run before that he finished 11 lengths behind Probe in a better handicap at Newmarket.
The main thing that puts me off him, however, is his lack of a previous run on the Ascot course where form in handicaps is important.
Apollo One finished third behind Probe at Newmarket before finishing in front of him at Epsom on his most recent run.
He finished eighth in this last year, five lengths off the victorious Rohaan who is now contesting Group 1 races. He has also won a Listed race over seven furlongs so stamina up the hill is not an issue.
Suggested bet 2:
Apollo One each-way in the 17:00 at Royal Ascot
Khanjar was down the field behind Lethal Levi at York but then gave an improved performance, so his York disappointment could be put down to fitness.
Khanjar also sports first time cheekpieces which questions his attitude, but what concerns me more is that his runs over seven furlongs have been disappointing.
As I mentioned earlier, I believe that in the Wokingham it is important that a horse stays seven furlongs well.
With the high number of runners, I think we should back two horses in this and based on the trends I think we should
go each way on Probe and
Apollo One
.
