Passenger (left)© Photo Healy Racing
Passenger began what could prove to be a big four-year-old season in the best possible fashion, with a smooth victory in the IRE-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Huxley Stakes at Chester.
A eighth victory in the race for Sir Michael Stoute, he looks a top-notch prospect for connections.
Not blessed with the smoothest of journeys when dead-heating for third in the Dante last year, before disappointing in the Derby, for which he was supplemented, the Ulysses colt was only seen once after Epsom, when getting home by a short head in the Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor.
In breaking the track record on the Roodee, he now looks booked for bigger and better things having beaten Israr by a length and a half to add Group Two honours to his CV.
Richard Kingscote was content to take a lead off Jim Crowley until the turned into the short straight, but once he asked his mount the response was immediate and the 7-4 scorer quickened impressively.
Paddy Power initially cut the winner to 14-1 for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, but were immediately forced to trim him into 8-1.
“I had a good chat with Ryan yesterday (about a plan) and we wanted to use Israr for as long as possible really and it’s nice when a race goes to plan,” Kingscote told Sky Sports Racing.
“This lad does battle, but obviously he’s still lightly-raced. We had to have a good battle at Windsor last year when I probably got to the front a little early. Today when he went by he didn’t hesitate and he put the race to bed really nicely.
“The Dante was a mess, I overcomplicated things and that was always going to be how we rode the race today, it’s nice when things go our way.”
The Derby-winning rider added on ITV Racing: “I think I let the horse down a couple of times last year, this went better so hopefully we can keep going forwards.
“Sir Michael doesn’t like bigging them up, but he’s a very likeable horse. The race was smooth for him, but you could just feel he was learning a bit on the job which is why I just feel Sir Michael loves coming here. He’s one to look forward to.
“Sir Michael has been at the top table a very long time, there’s a group of people who love him and are delighted to see him do well. Hopefully we’ve got another nice one.”
