Wokingham will again be in the global sporting spotlight this week’s running of the Wokingham Stakes at Royal Ascot at 5pm on Saturday, June 20.
The Heritage Handicap is a six furlongs (three quarters of a mile) race for three-year-olds and upwards.
The inaugural running of the Wokingham Stakes took place in 1813, making this race the oldest handicap at Royal Ascot.
The sprint is named after the market town, and the first dual winner was appropriately also named Wokingham, in 1881 and 1882.
Over the years, the race has developed a reputation as a fiercely competitive handicap, and is one of the major betting races of the season
Notable winners include Fayr Jag in 2003, who dead-heated with Ratio before returning to Royal Ascot a year later to capture the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes.
In 2010, Laddies Poker Two had been off the racecourse for 610 days before scoring emphatically for trainer Jeremy Noseda.
Rohaan, in 2021 and 2022) is one of only two horses, alongside Selhurstpark Flyer in 1997 and 1998, to win multiple editions of the Wokingham Stakes in the post-war period.
Get It, a seven-year-old gelding trained by George Baker and ridden by jockey Seamie Heffernan won last year’s race at odds of 28/1.
A total of 11 favourites or joint favourites have been successful in the 634 runnings of the race.
The winning connections will collect more than $90,000.
