Apollo One

Apollo One did well to finish second in the six-furlong handicap that brought events to a conclusion on Derby day at Epsom. Drawn widest of all in stall 14, he had to do a lot of running early on in order to secure a position for himself, and he was still widest of all around the turn. He picked up well in the home straight from mid-division though, he came down the outside with the eventual winner Badri. He appeared to become a little unbalanced just inside the two-furlong marker, but he kept to his task well, he ran all the way to the line to take second place, doing well in the circumstances to go down by just a neck.

Apollo One is not obviously unexposed, but this was a good performance, and it could bring him forward nicely for the Wokingham. He only finished eighth in that race last year, but he led from early out towards the centre of the track, in a race in which Rohaan came from the rear to win, a race in which it was probably an advantage to be held up – as it often is on Ascot’s straight track – and to race towards the stands side. Apollo One was only beaten a total of five lengths, having led until well inside the two-furlong marker out towards the centre of the track.

The handicapper raised him by 3lb for this run to a mark of 100, but, because the Wokingham is an early-closing race, he would get to race off his old mark of 97, which is 1lb lower than the mark off which he raced last year. He didn’t run badly on his only other run at Ascot, in the Group 3 Pavillion Stakes in 2021, and he will be of interest if he lines up in the Wokingham again this year.
Epsom, 3^rd June 2023