Desert Law already looks Wokingham winner at Royal Ascot

Over 100 horses may still be entered into the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot, but despite this lengthy list, one runner already sticks out as an obvious winner based on race trends.

There are still some doubts as to which Royal Ascot race Desert Law will take part in, with the King’s Stand Stakes over 5f also an option.

But given this is a Group One contest and Desert Law has not previously won in anything higher than Class 2, this would be an almighty ask.

So the Wokingham looks the better option, although there are suggestions that he is difficult to settle over 6f as he tends to break quickly from the stalls and get a little headstrong.

Desert Law is 14/1 to win the Wokingham and only 8/1 favourite Pearl Ice is superior to him in the betting.

There is good reason for this based on how many of the trends that have been common among previous winners also apply to him.

Firstly, the race has been dominated by horses aged four or five in the past decade, while those carrying a weight between 8st7lb and 9st have tended to hold the aces.

This helps to narrow the field down to a smaller quota of runners and only a handful remain after omitting those which failed to finish in the each-way places at worst on their latest start.

Other trends that look relevant are sticking to horses that have had a race within 50 days of Royal Ascot which means discounting those still waiting for a seasonal reappearance, horses to have won at Class 2 or higher and those to have a previous win on their records over 6f.

Furthermore, seven of the last 11 Wokingham winners had come from the first four in the Royal Ascot betting, meaning it is a race that suits favourite backers.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.