Passenger (7/4) made an impressive return to action as he took the IRE-Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Huxley Stakes at Chester.
The four-year-old ran in the Betfred Derby last season for Sir Michael Stoute and looks set to return to Group One company on the back of this one-and-a-quarter lengths defeat of Israr.
Richard Kingscote aboard the winner gave his mount a patient ride and conceded first run to Jim Crowley on the runner-up, but his partner was strong inside the final furlong and skipped clear at the line.
The winning rider told ITV Racing: "I had a big chat with Ryan (Moore) about him yesterday and those non-runners really helped me. This lad was ready to come out and have a run and we wanted to use Jim for as long as possible and the race worked out really nicely for me.
"I think I let the horse down a couple of times last season but things are going better and fingers crossed we keep going forwards. Sir Michael doesn't like bigging them up but he's a very likeable horse who is doing a lot really well now. The race was very smooth for him but you could tell he was learning on the job which is why Sir Michael loves coming here. Here's one we've been looking forward to."
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Alan Cooper, racing manager for owners Flaxman Stables, added: "Michael has taken his time with him and the horse is paying us back every time. He's a son of Ulysees and it's exciting, he showed a lot of class today I thought. We'll listen to Sir Michael's advice as to where to go next.
"I was interested to see he was given the entry in the Hardwicke, we were thinking he was more of a mile-and-a-quarter horse but let's see what happens in the next few weeks."
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.
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