Put Wokingham champagne on ice for Chil Chil

THIS year’s Wokingham looks as hot as ever and there are plenty at the head of the market you could make a really good case for.

It’s certainly not implausible that Rohaan will run a huge race following his remarkable improvement this season. David Evans’ three-year-old won the Pavilion Stakes over course and distance in April and that is a trial for the Commonwealth Cup, as is Haydock’s Sandy Lane, which he also won last month, but he was ineligible to go for that Group 1 as he’s a gelding.

He may have been 22-1 and 33-1 for those two races, but he has now won three of his last four and is clearly on the upgrade.

The problem is a handicap mark of 112, which is 5lb higher than when Cape Byron won in 2019. If he wins off the mark on Saturday then he is almost certain to be awarded a higher Racing Post Rating than whatever wins the Commonwealth Cup on Friday.

I can’t rule him out as I really like the chances of his Sandy Lane victim Dragon Symbol in Friday’s Group 1, but he will be taking on some improving older horses and it’s a huge ask off that rating.

It would be a surprise if King’s Lynn took in this after running in the King’s Stand on Tuesday, and the two I really like are Pendleton and Chil Chil, although I can’t be backing both as the pair are also near the head of the market.

Pendleton was improving fast at the end of his three-year-old campaign in 2019 and he has returned better than ever after a year and a half off, finishing second over course and distance last month before winning dropped down to 5f at York.

He is also a course winner over 5f and certainly won’t be inconvenienced if the track gets the thick end of the forecast rain, but preference is still just for

Chil Chil.

Andrew Balding’s mare is another who looks massively on the up and she will surely be contesting Group races later in the season.

She’s also a course winner, having bolted up in handicap company off a mark of 85 in August last year, and while she’s a massive 21lb higher now, that is fully deser ved.

Chil Chil made a good start to the campaign at Newmarket in April, running a neck second to Count Otto, and then took a huge step forward, as many of Balding’s horses do after a seasonal opener, when reversing that form and streaking to a three-and-a-halflength win there at the Guineas meeting.

She looked like she could win by as far as she wanted that day – Silvestre de Sousa was easing down 50 yards from the line – having travelled strongly from the outset, and there’s every chance she has developed into a proper Group sprinter.