Royal Ascot

Royal Ascot Antepost Tips: Royal Hunt Cup and Wokingham Stakes

3 months ago

| BY Steve Mullington

We’re less than a month away from the 2025 Royal Ascot meeting and our horse racing writer has picked out two antepost fancies for the Royal Hunt Cup and the Wokingham Stakes.

Royal Hunt Cup

The Royal Hunt Cup always provides one of the greatest spectacles of the Royal Meeting, as a maximum field of 30 runners thunders up Ascot’s Straight Mile course for one of the biggest betting races of the season.

This Season’s Contenders

The Roger Varian-trained My Cloud (8/1 fav in our Royal Ascot betting) is almost on a par with his Group One winning half-brother Palace Pier, and a win in the Hunt Cup would elevate him even closer to that level.

The four-year-old continues to head in the right direction and comes into this Royal Ascot race on the back of a victory in a one mile handicap at Newbury on May 17.

The son of Blue Point was sent off the 5/6 favourite to get the job done , and despite a few anxious moments the odds-on favourite got up just in time to defeat Boyfriend by a head and set up a tilt at the Royal Hunt Cup.

Speaking after the race Varian said: “It was a nervous watch because it was a messy race. They went so steady and got strung out and he got a bit far behind.

“He did well to win as it is not easy making up ground off a steady gallop. He is still learning as that was only his fifth race.

“He will get an entry in the Royal Hunt Cup and that would be the obvious race for him. He is a lovely horse and he will suit the stiff mile.

Ed Dunlop’s Skukuza (10/1) was runner-up in the Britannia Handicap last June and appears to hold all the credentials to go close in a Royal Hunt Cup too.

After winning the one mile Emerald Mile Handicap (Premier Handicap) at the Curragh on May 24, Dunlop said he would only run him at Royal Ascot if the going wasn’t too quick.

The Royal Hunt Cup also beckons for Great Chieftain (20/1), who continued his rise through the ranks with a win in the Jack Berry House Hell Nook Handicap at Haydock Park.

Paul and Oliver Cole’s four-year-old ended last season with wins at Goodwood and Newmarket and he recently got back to winning ways at Newmarket’s Guineas meeting.

William Buick was always perfectly positioned on the 11-4 favourite at Haydock and he is going into Royal Ascot with a fighting chance of taking home the silverware.

At slightly larger odds Old Cock (25/1) makes plenty of appeal in a race of this nature.

Twice a winner at Haydock Park last season, the four-year-old brings a very strong strand of form into the race, especially after being triumphant in the ultra-competitive Hambleton Handicap at York’s Dante meeting.

The result of that race usually stands up to scrutiny every season, and Ed Bethell’s Calyx-gelding can be in the thick of things once more.

Wokingham Stakes

The Wokingham Stakes is a handicap race run over six furlongs and is one of the feature races on day five of Royal Ascot.

The race attracts usually attracts some experienced campaigners as well as some improving sprinters, many of which are heading towards Group race stardom.

This Season’s Contenders

More Thunder (6/1) booked his ticket to Royal Ascot after Tom Marquand delivered his mount with perfection in a six furlong handicap at Newmarket on May 3rd.

The four-year-old was a winner over 1m2f for Sir Michael Stoute – one of the greatest Royal Ascot trainers of all time – but has thrived with his sprinting exploits under his new trainer William Haggas.

Haggas said: “Tom said he just hit a ridge at the wrong time, but he stayed on well. He felt it was more the track that meant he got there so late rather than the distance. He felt he was plenty fast enough.

“I think something like the Wokingham might be the sensible route at this stage. If we didn’t he’d have to go into a stakes race, but at the moment he’s still low enough to be competitive in handicaps.

Punters reacted quickly to that news and backed him into the new race favourite.

The Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum-owned Jarraaf (14/1) was purchased for 70,000 guineas at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale from the draft of Manister House Stud, and has always looked a decent type.

Owen Burrows is now reverting this Listed and Group performer back into a handicap, and you would like to think that his class will come to the fore. At odds of around 14/1, the colt looks a very solid each-way bet at this juncture.

Currently trading at fairly large odds is the Wathnan Racing-owned Garfield Shadow (25/1).

Given the excellent level of success the four-year-old-colt had with Richard Fahey, winning five of his ten starts, it’s hard to leave him out of your calculations even though you might be very unfamiliar with his current trainer Hamad Al Jehani.

A winner of a local Group 3 in Doha last November, this son of James Garfield is a very interesting sprinter in this context.

One horse who has threatened to win one of these big Heritage Handicaps is the Karl Burke-trained Korker (33/1 in our horse racing odds).

His annoying habit of falling out of the stalls appears to have been ironed out in recent times, but fast late finishes in races such as the Sky Dash, the Ayr Gold Cup and the recent Churchill Tyres at York, put him in the a great each-way squeak.