The Wokingham is possibly my favourite race of the season and this year the market looks slightly peculiar with the heavily-fancied Dreamfield as short as 11/4 in certain places.
He may well be group-level, but the Wokingham requires some luck as well as ability to win it and with 28 runners, I don’t see the point in having a go on such a short-priced favourite.
Dreamfield is one of the pacemakers in the field and that means he could be a great target for TIS MARVELLOUS who is drawn three stalls away from the favourite in five. The draw can be slightly tricky to call in the Wokingham, but in 7/10 of the past runnings, horses that have been drawn within five stalls of either rail have won.
Tis Marvellous is only contesting his second ever handicap off a mark of 99 for leading-sprint trainer, Clive Cox. Last season he was seen finishing sixth when contesting the Commonwealth Cup (Group 1) against the likes of the 125-rated Caravaggio, Harry Angel and this week’s Kings Stand winner, Blue Point. That is seriously good three-year-old form and Tis Marvellous is already a Group 2 winner, which is more than can be said for the favourite.
His best form definitely appears to be on a quicker surface and I was mightily encouraged by his comeback performance at Newmarket behind Gifted Master when he finished 5/15.
That should have put him spot on for this, and I think he is difficult to ignore off his current mark with so many boxes being ticked.
Undrafted could go close if returning to his best for Wesley Ward, but the former Diamond Jubilee winner is not the most compelling proposition from a punting perspective given that he doesn’t satisfy many of the recent trends for Wokingham winners. He does love Ascot though so I wouldn’t put you off backing him.
Towards the stands-side rails, we are taking a chance on GROWL roaring back-to-form as he has been dropped to his lowest mark (102) for almost two years.
He was unsuited by the shorter 5f trip on his seasonal reappearance, but still finished best of the rest when going down in second behind the excellent Kachy and that would have blown the cobwebs away
Growl is suited by these types of handicaps, demonstrated by finishing fourth in the Steward’s Cup last year off a mark of 109 and as a four-year-old when just being touched-off in the Ayr Gold Cup off a mark of 101.
He often comes from off-the-pace and with form over seven furlongs, he should be finishing well in the closing stages. Growl also has plenty of speed around him in stall 29, so he should be able to get a decent toe-in to the race and I expect that this has been the target for Richard Fahey for some time.
A slight negative is the lack of a win since 2016, but he has been highly tried including a run in the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee last season and with the handicapper loosening his grip by dropping him 3lbs, he should have every chance of going close if racing up to his best form.
0.75pts each-way Growl @16/1, 17:00 Royal Ascot, Saturday (six places, 1/5 odds with various bookmakers)
0.75pts each-way Tis Marvellous @20/1, 17:00 Royal Ascot, Saturday (six places, 1/5 odds with Coral)