Wokingham Stakes
Heritage Handicap, Ascot 17:05 £175,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 6f, Class 2
Tweet Saturday 22nd June 2024

1 Unequal Love 12/1
2 Dark Trooper 4/1F
3 Orazio 16/1
4 Lethal Levi 28/1
25 ran NR: Aleezdancer, Apollo One, Gorak, Wodao
Distances: ½l, hd, ½l Time: 1m 13.04s (slow by 0.74s)

Unequal Love wins the Wokingham Stakes at Royal @Ascot! pic.twitter.com/vzaWpuRdid

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 22, 2024

Becoming a first winner of the week for William Haggas, Unequal Love responded gamely to Tom Marquand’s urgings to hold off the favourite Dark Trooper, Orazio and Lethal Levi. The distances were half a length, a head and another half a length.

Unequal Love, who won a Listed race at Newmarket on her penultimate start, is owned and bred by the Thompson family’s Cheveley Park Stud. 

Maureen Haggas, assistant to her husband, said: “Unequal Love is the most gorgeous, lovely, genuine filly – and it’s great to have a winner for Cheveley Park. They are top-class owner-breeders and huge contributors to British racing, so for us to have a winner for them at Royal Ascot is fantastic. They’ve been supporters of ours for donkey’s years. They put a lot into British racing and they really do deserve to be winning races like this.

“We all want to have winners at Ascot. Our horses, the ones we thought were going to run ok, have run well, and we have had seconds and thirds, so to get a winner is more of a relief than anything else. 

“Our expectations before the race were very low. She ran really well in a Group race in Ireland and we obviously then went up in the weights, because we didn’t realise she was going to come here – this wasn’t in the plan, and then Mrs Thompson had brought all her family and had the box, and said, would you run her, because they wanted a runner, so William said no problem. Then she was drawn one, which looked a terrible draw on what’s gone on this week, so really it just shows how much we know, because we also thought she wanted softer ground and had too much weight, so we are patently clueless!

“I think you can get away with running them on faster ground on a level track - this is a level, climbing track and you can get away with it. She’s just a tough, genuine filly and she really ran well, and she wanted to win, which is what it is all about.”

Marquand said: “To be honest, I never really had a moment of worry. Stall one looked one of the most horrible draws of the lot. I saw that the first eight in the betting were drawn high and you think, well it's not a write-off until it's a write-off but it's as near as.

"I said on the way out, this is one of my favourite fillies in training. She's just gorgeous. She obviously went on a good run last year and won a few. She's just fantastic. She's Cheveley Park's as well, which is great. She's a sweetheart as well as being very talented.”

James Doyle said of Dark Trooper: “Dark Trooper is a dude, and has run a cracker. The action was just away from me a bit – he prefers to follow, follow, follow, and have a crack. But the runners dropped away and my targets were no longer targets inside the three, so we had to make a bit of running by ourselves, but I am really proud of him.”

Orazio’s trainer Charlie Hills said: “We were a little bit concerned about the ground coming into the race, and Orazio probably was just a little bit indecisive on the ground to start with. Then once he passed one horse, he flew home. He is a pretty decent horse – another few strides, he would have won. I am delighted with him and there are a good few options now going forwards. He is in the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket and we will have a look at that. There are some nice handicaps going forwards and it would be nice to hopefully end up in Group company at some stage.”

His rider Saffie Osborne added: “I was sat last and had a lot of traffic issues. It is frustrating as I felt like another couple of strides and I would have been in front, but it’s one of those things in those big field handicaps.”

Wokingham Stakes (Heritage Handicap)
£175,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 6f, Class 2
25 ran
Going: Good to Firm

POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (1)    Unequal Love 4 9-7 William Haggas Tom Marquand 12/1
2 (24) ½ Dark Trooper 4 9-7 A De Mieulle James Doyle 4/1F
3 (22) hd Orazio 5 9-5 Charles Hills Saffie Osborne 16/1
4 (6) ½ Lethal Levi 5 9-2 K R Burke Clifford Lee 28/1
5 (4) ¾ Glenfinnan 4 9-0 Michael Dods Connor Beasley 22/1
6 (15) ½ Vafortino 6 9-12 Kevin Philippart De Foy Jim Crowley 28/1
7 (13) 1½ Rocket Rodney 4 9-5 George Scott Callum Shepherd 66/1
8 (8) hd Desert Cop 4 9-4 Andrew Balding Callum Hutchinson 33/1
9 (5) nse The Bell Conductor 7 9-2 Craig Lidster William Pyle 100/1
10 (21) hd Chipstead 6 9-3 Roger Teal Jack Doughty 50/1
11 (29) nk Cover Up 4 9-6 John & Thady Gosden William Buick 14/1
12 (14) ¾ Coachello 6 9-9 Mark Loughnane Billy Loughnane 40/1
13 (19) nk Strike Red 6 9-2 Richard Fahey Oisin Orr 28/1
14 (11) hd Mums Tipple 7 9-1 Richard Hannon Sean Levey 12/1
15 (9) ½ Warrior Brave 6 9-0 Ross O'Sullivan Dylan Browne McMonagle 50/1
16 (7) ½ Juan Les Pins 7 9-6 Michael Appleby Alistair Rawlinson 40/1
17 (12) nk Roman Dragon 5 9-0 Hugo Palmer Hayley Turner 100/1
18 (31) nk Albasheer 6 9-5 Archie Watson Hollie Doyle 11/2
19 (17) ½ Saint Lawrence 6 9-8 Archie Watson Luke Morris 25/1
20 (20) nse Torivega 4 9-3 Ms Sheila Lavery Robbie Colgan 18/1
21 (18) nk Ferrous 4 9-3 Jack Channon David Probert 12/1
22 (26) nk Fivethousandtoone 6 9-10 Andrew Balding Oisin Murphy 16/1
23 (23) nk Harry Three 5 9-9 Clive Cox Ryan Moore 9/1
24 (25) 1 Rumstar 4 9-9 Jonathan Portman Trevor Whelan 15/2
25 (16) 2¼ Flaming Rib 5 9-9 Hugo Palmer Kieran Shoemark 50/1
NR 8 (2) Apollo One 6 9-7 P Charalambous & J Clutterbuck NON RUNNER
NR 13 (27) Wodao 4 9-5 Jamie Osborne NON RUNNER
NR 23 (3) Aleezdancer 5 9-2 Kevin Ryan NON RUNNER
NR 25 (28) Gorak 5 9-1 Charlie Fellowes NON RUNNER

Past results
2023-WINNER-SAINT LAWRENCE Archie Watson Hollie Doyle D J Deer 5-9-02 22/1
2022-WINNER-ROHAAN David Evans Ryan Moore Chris Kiely Racing Ltd & James Tomkins 4-9-12 18/1
2021-WINNER-ROHAAN David Evans Shane Kelly Chris Kiely Racing Ltd & J Tomkins 3 9-08 8/1
2020-WINNER-HEY JONESY Kevin Ryan Kevin Stott Pallister Racing 5-9-03 18/1
2019-WINNER-CAPE BYRON Roger Varian Andrea Atzeni Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum 5-9-09 7/2F
2018-WINNER-BACCHUS Brian Meehan Jim Crowley G Morland, D Erwin, J Woodman 4-9-06 33/1
2017-WINNER-OUT DO 8-8-13 Owner-Evan Sutherland; Trainer-David O’Meara; Jockey-Daniel Tudhope; SP-25/1
2ND-Steady Pace 4-9-04 Owner-Godolphin; Trainer-Saeed bin Suroor; Jockey-Josephine Gordon; SP-16/1
3RD-Projection 4-9-00 Owner-The Royal Ascot Racing Club; Trainer-Roger Charlton; Jockey-Kieran Shoemark; SP-15/2
4TH-Polybius 6-9-01 Owner-Karmaa Racing Ltd & Partners; Trainer-David Simcock; Jockey-Oisin Murphy; SP-33/1
27 ran; Time-1m 13.02s; Dist-½, nk, nk 11/2 fav Raucous (8th)

2016-WINNER-OUTBACK TRAVELLER 5-9-01 Owner-Lordship Stud & Mrs J Morley; Trainer-Robert Cowell; Jockey-Martin Harley; SP-10/1
2ND-Brando 4-9-02 Owner-Ms Angie Bailey; Trainer-Kevin Ryan; Jockey-Tom Eaves; SP-7/1 Jt Fav
3RD-Glen Moss 7-9-01 Owner-Ritchie Fiddes; Trainer-Michael Dods; Jockey-Philip Makin; SP-25/1
4TH-Absolutely So 6-9-10 Owner-The George Smith Family Partnership; Trainer-Andrew Balding; Jockey-Oisin Murphy; SP-25/1
28 ran; Time-1m 14.05s; Dist-nk, 1½, ¾ 7/1 Jt Fav (The Happy Prince 15th)

2015-WINNER-INTERCEPTION 5-9-03 Owner-Bjorn Nielsen; Trainer-David Lanigan; Jockey-George Baker; SP-10/1
2ND-Robert Le Diable 6-9-05 Owner-Bryan Lynam; Trainer-Didier Prod'homme FR; Jockey-Damien Oliver; SP-12/1
3RD-Lancelot Du Lac 5-9-05 Owner-Michael & Heather Yarrow; Trainer-Dean Ivory; Jockey-Robert Winston; SP-25/1
4TH-Related 5-8-12 Owner-J Barnett & M Caine; Trainer-David Simcock; Jockey-Fergus Sweeney; SP-50/1
25 ran; Time-1m 13.20s; Dist-11⁄4, 1, 3⁄4 7/1 Fav Watchable (5th)

2014-WINNER-BACCARAT 5-9-02 Owner-Sir Robert Ogden; Trainer-Richard Fahey; Jockey-George Chaloner; SP-9/1
2ND-Professor 4-9-08 Owner-Poilin Good; Trainer-Richard Hannon; Jockey-Ryan Moore; SP-10/1
3RD-Rivellino 4-9-04 Owner-Melba Bryce; Trainer-Karl Burke; Jockey-William Buick; SP-25/1
4TH-Alben Star 6-9-04 Owner- J Shannon & M Scaife; Trainer-Richard Fahey; Jockey-Paul Hanagan; SP-16/1
28 ran; Time-1m 12.09s; Dist-11⁄2, 3⁄4, nk 4/1 Fav Absolutely So (15th)

2013-WINNER-YORK GLORY 5-9-02 Owner-Salman Rashed & Mohamed Khalifa; Trainer-Kevin Ryan; Jockey-Jamie Spencer; SP-14/1
2ND-Shropshire 5-9-01 Owner-Catherine Corbett & Chris Wright; Trainer-Charlie Hills; Jockey-James McDonald; SP-12/1
3RD-Dinkum Diamond 5-9-02 Owner-Eight Star Syndicate; Trainer-Henry Candy; Jockey-Cathy Gannon; SP-22/1
4TH-Khubala 4-9-05 Owner-Pinar Araci Bas; Trainer-Hugo Palmer; Jockey-Frankie Dettori; SP-16/1
26 ran; Time-1m 13.79s; Dist-13⁄4, 1, 3⁄4 6/1 Fav Gabriel’s Lad (9th)

2012-WINNER-DANDY BOY 6-9-08 Owner-Malih Al Basti; Trainer-David Marnane IRE; Jockey-Pat Dobbs; SP-33/1
2ND-Waffle 6-9-02 Owner-Laurence O’Kane & Paul Murphy; Trainer-David Barron; Jockey-Fran Berry; SP-11/1
3RD-Hawkeyethenoo 6-9-04 Owner-Johnnie Delta Racing; Trainer-Jim Goldie; Jockey-Graham Lee; SP-20/1
4TH-Morache Music 4-9-07 Owner- R P Marchant, D M Ahier & Mrs E Lee; Trainer-Peter Makin; Jockey-Seb Sanders; SP-20/1
28 ran; Time-1m 13.87s; Dist-11⁄4, 1⁄2, sh 15/2 Fav Lightning Cloud (9th)