Big Mojo back with a bang at Ascot

Big Mojo booked his ticket to Royal Ascot with a comeback victory in the eventmasters.co.uk Commonwealth Cup Trial – but which sprint he ultimately lines up in remains to be seen.

Mick Appleby’s colt mixed it with the best as a juvenile last season, emulating his illustrious stablemate Big Evs by winning the Molecomb Stakes at Goodwood before running with credit in the Gimcrack at York, the Flying Childers at Doncaster and at the Breeders’ Cup.

Racing over six furlongs for only a second time on his first start as a three-year-old, Big Mojo was a 4-1 shot under Tom Marquand and while he hung across the track after being produced with his challenge, he found plenty for pressure to score by half a length from Diablo Rojo.

Paddy Power trimmed the winner’s odds for the Commonwealth Cup to 14-1 from 25-1 and a return to the Berkshire circuit is firmly on the agenda – but a drop back to five furlongs for the King Charles III Stakes, in which Big Evs finished third against his elders last year, is a potential alternative.

“That (King Charles) would be more the likely way we’d go down, I would think. (But) he is in both races,” Appleby told Sky Sports Racing.

“It’s always a concern when you’ve got a decent two-year-old, whether they’ve trained on, but at home he looked like he had – he’s been working really well against some of the older horses.

“I’m really delighted with him.”

Marquand suggested he was in favour of a drop back to the minimum trip, saying: “He’s a very good horse, he showed that last year and I think it’s just changed him a little bit as a type as well – the second I even went to think about going this lad was up and away, which is something he didn’t do last year in quite the same manner.

“I thought that was a good performance, he’s done well to go and win and I feel like on a track like Ascot, where you’re going to get tempo and he doesn’t lack early speed or the ability to travel, over five (furlongs) he could be lethal here.

“On the right track I still think six furlongs is correct for him, but Ascot being Ascot, it (going back to five furlongs) is definitely a strong possibility.”