Passenger | Horse Racing Free Tips

York: “Hopefully We’ll See the Nostrum We Saw At Newmarket Again.” Saturday Bonanza Begins with Juddmonte’s Rising Star

Saturday's European black-type count stands at a baker's dozen, with eight group races in Britain and Ireland alone featuring several movers and shakers towards the elite level kicking off with Juddmonte's TDN Rising Star Nostrum (GB) (Kingman {GB}) in York's G3 Strensall S. and culminating five hours later with the fellow Sir Michael Stoute-trained Passenger (Ulysses {Ire}) in the G3 Weatherbys Global Stallions Winter Hill S. at Windsor.

Nostrum was surprisingly beaten by fellow TDN Rising Star Epictetus (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in Goodwood's G3 Thoroughbred S. last time, but is back on quick ground in this contest over what could prove an ideal trip of nearly nine furlongs so it is a case of game on again. His previous performance when upstaging some smart peers including the subsequent G3 Sovereign S. dead-heater Embesto (GB) (Roaring Lion) and G2 Hungerford S. runner-up New Endeavour (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) in Newmarket's Listed Sir Henry Cecil S. stands up as one of the key pieces of mile form this year and connections retain full faith.

“We all called it wrong, we thought he'd have liked the ground the last day as he's a big horse and he bends his knee a bit,” Juddmonte's European racing manager Barry Mahon said. “We were all wrong and Ryan just felt that he couldn't pull himself out of it, it was gluey. There was the factor too that he'd been off the track for so long, there may have been a bounce on his second start–we don't know but he's training well and we're looking forward to seeing him. We think he'll have come forward for the run and we're looking forward to getting him back on a better surface and a more conventional track. Hopefully we'll see the Nostrum we saw at Newmarket again.”

Epictetus Poised For Celebration…
Less than an hour after Nostrum graces York's Knavesmire, the Gosdens send Epictetus back to Goodwood for the G2 Celebration Mile as he builds towards the major autumn tests. With the G1 St James's Palace S. and G1 Sussex S. third Charyn (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) in attendance, this will provide a gauge as to where George Strawbridge's son of Thistle Bird (GB) (Selkirk) is among the leading milers. “He's stepping up in grade again on Saturday, but the drop down to a mile has suited him well and he's been in good order since his last run,” Thady Gosden said. “I don't think he necessarily needs soft ground–he's relatively versatile as regards to it.”

Prestige Contests Continue Thick And Fast…
In between these two contests, there is the G3 Prestige Fillies' S. for 2-year-old fillies at Goodwood where Shaikh Duaij Al Khalifa's Carla's Way (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) gets the chance to atone for a disappointing effort in Royal Ascot's G3 Albany S. with Newtown Anner Stud Farm's 10-length Thirsk novice winner Darnation (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) in opposition. Back at York minutes later, the £500,000 G2 City of York S. features Marc Chan's G1 Prix de la Foret and G1 British Champions Sprint S.-winning TDN Rising Star Kinross (GB) (Kingman {GB}) who is just about the best there is at this seven-furlong trip.

“It's amazing that York can put up that much prize-money for a group two race,” Chan's racing manager Jamie McCalmont said. “They deserve the race to get upgraded to a group one when they can come up with that sort of money. He certainly doesn't owe us anything right now, but as Frankie says, he's like an ATM machine so let's hope that will continue.”

On a big day for Chan, last year's G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Lezoo (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}) enjoys a class drop in Newmarket's Listed Hopeful S. after her break since flopping in the G1 Commonwealth Cup. This is also the farewell ride for Andrea Atzeni, who departs for Hong Kong after the meeting. “Andrea is a great guy and the way he's ridden over the last couple of months is as well as he's ever ridden,” McCalmont added. “This is a good stepping stone back, she loves the course, we get her ground and she's fine over the distance, so fingers crossed.”

Best Of The Rest…
As the afternoon action winds down in Britain, The Curragh gets going with the G3 Newtownanner Stud Irish EBF S. over a mile hosting some big middle-distance Classic prospects for 2023. When it comes to these kind of juvenile tests, there is always added intrigue where The Aga Khan's representatives are concerned and so the Dermot Weld-trained Tipperary maiden scorer Shelaka (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) will have plenty of eyes on her. The card also features another significant prize for the juveniles in the six-furlong G3 Heider Family Stables Round Tower S., while the fillies and mares get their shot in the nine-furlong G3 Snow Fairy Fillies S.

Elsewhere, York's Listed Julia Graves Roses S. features Opulence Thoroughbreds and Teme Valley's TDN Rising Star and G3 Molecomb S. runner-up Purosangue (GB) (Aclaim {Ire}), while another TDN Rising Star lines up in Windsor's Listed Weatherbys Digital Solutions August S. over an extended 11 furlongs. That is Anthony Oppenheimer's Kempton novice winner Lion's Pride (GB) (Roaring Lion), who holds an entry in the G1 St Leger and while this is an unorthodox prep for that Classic, the half-brother to Courage Mon Ami (GB) (Frankel {GB}) could yet become a leading light for Doncaster.

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Epsom: Can Auguste Rodin Bounce Back In The Derby?

For once in these days of volatile climate, the sun is shining on the Surrey Downs and all the righteous colts assembled for the latest G1 Betfred Derby. Lester Piggott, who is commemorated by one of the card's handicaps carrying his name, was always refererred to patronisingly as the “housewife's choice” in the Blue Riband thanks largely to his association with Ballydoyle. Rosegreen's sacred establishment continues to support this mile-and-a-half Classic like a pillar of iron and 2023's chosen one is Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), whose attempt at Nijinsky's Triple Crown came to an abrupt halt in the 2000 Guineas. Of all the Longfellow's Derby winners, none had to conjure a magic-trick turnaround of this nature so Saturday's race carries that bit of extra intrigue.

What Auguste Rodin lacks in last-time-out form, he makes up for with a mix of reputation and juvenile achievement representing the trainer who has continually bent the accepted perceived knowledge of what is possible in this sport. After all, this is the stable that engineered a Slip Anchor-style Derby win out of Serpentine (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a colt who had begun his career with a 16-length 10th of 11 in a Galway maiden. Auguste Rodin, the “special” one as far as all closest to him are concerned, has to go and do it himself now with O'Brien summing it up this week. “The Derby is the race where all the horses come together and then you find out, that's the way it is every year,” he said.

Passing It Down; Is Frankel The New Derby Sire Sensation?

In one of the last Classic face-offs between Galileo and Frankel, the latter looks to have a distinct edge in his bid to cement his position as the next go-to sire in this great race. Galileo's unbeaten son Artistic Star (Ire) hails not from Ballydoyle but from the Ralph Beckett stable and is a big outsider with experience in short supply, while Juddmonte's great supplies Frankie's grand finale Arrest (Ire) and more intriguingly also a sleight of hand two years on from his first winner Adayar (Ire). Unexpectedly, that emphatic Derby hero's full-brother Military Order (Ire) comes here with perhaps stronger credentials having won the Listed Lingfield Derby Trial his 5-year-old sibling surrendered en route. When Arthur Budgett's Oaks runner-up Windmill Girl produced two Derby winners in Blakeney and Morston there was a thought that it might not happen again, such is the implausibility of such an outcome, but we are potentially here again.

The 1969 and 1973 winners were half-brothers, so Anna Salai (Dubawi {Ire}) will be providing the race and her breeding operation with something unique if it again plays out right for the boys in blue on Saturday. Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby said today he is happy with the draw allocated to Military Order as he bids to saddle his third Betfred Derby winner. “He is always going to be going there with the tag as being a Derby winner's full-brother, so everyone is going to ask the questions of 'is he as good?' and 'where does he stand compared to him?' but he looks as though he is physically potentially more there and mentally more there than Adayar at this stage of his career,” Charlie Appleby said. “Regardless of that, Adayar went and won a Derby and this lad has got to go and do it now.”

Prepare For The Ride

Richard Kingscote has the chance to emulate “King Kieren” Fallon, the last jockey to win back-to-back Derbys in 2003 and 2004, on Passenger (Ulysses {Ire}) who carries Workforce-like vibes into this for the Niarchos Family so far denied a Derby triumph. Sir Michael Stoute's assistant James Savage was tellingly not averse to comparing the homebred with last year's winner. “Desert Crown and Passenger are different in many ways, but one thing they are similar in is that they are both clever horses that learnt very quickly,” he said. Like the 1993 hero Commander in Chief, he only appeared for the first time at Newmarket's Craven meeting, where King Power's The Foxes (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) was running second in the signature race before their subsequent coming together in York's Dante.

An Instant Impression?

Surprisingly, given the intensely competitive nature of the Derby, both Geoff Wragg in 1983 and Roger Charlton in 1990 managed to win it in their first season training with Teenoso and Quest For Fame, respectively. Charlie Johnston is attempting the feat this time with a duo including the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud hero Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion), who has the edge over the Chester Vase one-two Arrest and Adelaide River (Ire) (Australia {GB}) and very much over Auguste Rodin having finished 17 lengths ahead of that peer in the Guineas.

Sporting the colours of “Mr Derby” Ahmad Al Shaikh, whose outsiders Khalifa Sat (Ire) (Free Eagle {Ire}) and Hoo Ya Mal (GB) (Territories {Ire}) were second in 2020 and 2022, Dubai Mile's Derby success could well have been prophesied by his owner after greeting Hoo Ya Mal. “Next year!” he had said, so no pressure there then Charlie. “He looks great and it is all systems go,” the son of Middleham legend Mark, who fared no better than second in all his tries in the Derby. “The track as we know is a variable that will be an unknown until he has tackled it, but the trip is very much viewed as a positive.”

Click here to view the TDN's Derby Special Edition.

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Auguste Rodin Heads Betfred Derby 14, Marhaba Ya Sanafi One Of Prix du Jockey Club 11

Following a draw conducted live in Epsom's hallowed circle, a final field of 14 has been confirmed for Saturday's G1 Betfred Derby. Ballydoyle number one Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) has pulled “lucky” stall 10, still the most beneficial draw in Derby history having housed Shahrastani, Reference Point (GB), Nashwan, Quest For Fame (GB), Generous (Ire), Galileo (Ire), Sir Percy (GB), Ruler of the World (Ire) and Masar (Ire). Chief market rival Military Order (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) will exit from next door in nine, while leading contenders Passenger (Ulysses {Ire}) and White Birch (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) have drawn boxes seven and two respectively.

Meanwhile, in France, a final field of 11 has been declared for Sunday's €1,500,000 G1 Qatar Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly. The cast is headed by Jaber Abdullah's G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains hero Marhaba Ya Sanafi (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}), who has drawn post four. TDN Rising Star and supplementary entry Feed The Flame (GB) (Kingman {GB}) has been allocated stall six. There was good news for connections of likely favourite Big Rock (Fr) (Rock Of Gibraltar {Ire}), with Yeguada Centurion's homebred sensation drawn in two.

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‘We’ve Always Dreamt of Winning the Derby’: Alan Cooper on Passenger

The Niarchos Family has had no shortage of Classic success over the years, including at Epsom, where they won a memorably emotional Oaks with the Sir Henry Cecil-trained Light Shift (Kingmambo), but there is to date one omission from their roll call of big-race wins.

“We've always dreamt of winning the Derby. We haven't yet, but let's hope that Saturday can go the right way,” Alan Cooper, the operation's racing manager, told TDN on Wednesday.

That dream could become reality if Passenger continues to show the level of improvement that persuaded the Niarchoses to supplement the colt for the Betfred Derby. Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Passenger has an extra special element to him in that his sire, the dual Group 1 winner Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), is also a Niarchos homebred and was trained by Stoute, while his female family traces back through the Niarchos operation for five generations.

Passenger was first seen in action in public during the Craven meeting at Newmarket, where he impressed plenty of onlookers with his three-length victory in the Wood Ditton Maiden over a mile. He then stepped straight into group company at York for the G2 Dante S., a race won last year by his stable-mate and subsequent Derby winner Desert Crown (GB) ((Nathaniel {Ire}), who was also making just his appearance on a racecourse at the time. Denied a clear run at a crucial stage in the Dante, Passenger eventually burst clear to finish a running-on third behind The Foxes (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) and White Birch (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}), both of whom he will meet again at Epsom.

“He's a horse who probably surprised us a little bit in the Wood Ditton and he has just matured, physically and mentally, since his first racecourse experience,” Cooper said.

“The Dante was a very good education with hindsight. He didn't win but he learnt a lot from it. It's a great compliment to Michael and his team that we are getting him to Epsom.”

He added, “He's by our homebred stallion and the female family has been in the Niarchos family since the early 1980s, going back to Misinskie, who was trained by Peter Walwyn. Then the mare went over to be bred in America and had her breeding career over there.”

Bred by Will Farish III, Misinskie, by Nijinsky, features as the fifth dam of Passenger. Her daughter Ajman (Woodman) was bred under the Niarchoses' Flaxman Holdings banner but raced for Shadwell, who then bred Passenger's third dam El Laoob (Red Ransom). This branch of the family returned to the Niarchos fold when Passenger's grand-dam Pachattack (Pulpit) appeared at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale of 2011 with plenty of black type to her name and was bought for $1.2 million.

Also seeking a first Derby win is Charlie Johnston in his first season with a training licence in his own name since his father Mark stepped back. The trainer is likely to saddle two for the race, and there is a particular poignancy to one of those runners as Dubai Mile (Ire), owned by Ahmad Al Shaikh, is from the sole crop of the late Roaring Lion, who was himself third in the Derby won by Masar (Ire).

The Group 1-winning juvenile was bought for €20,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale from his breeder Lady Chryss O'Reilly and most recently finished fifth in the 2,000 Guineas.

“There's no horse in this race that we know is better than ours, on ratings we're right there with them all,” said Johnston. “He's a Group 1 winner who ran a good trial over an inadequate trip in the Guineas, so in that sense I think we've got a rock-solid profile.

“The fact he was a €20,000 yearling and a bit more unfashionable probably explains why he's 14-1 rather than 4-1. There's nothing in there that scares me or we have 7lb to find with. If he improves for the trip, which we all expect he will, then he goes there with a good chance.”

Johnston is also represented by the 100/1 outsider Dear My Friend (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) for Middleham Park Racing.

“He's our first runner in the Derby and we are going into it with our eyes wide open,” said Mike Prince of Middleham Park Racing. “He was well beaten in the Dante but we think the step up in trip will suit him.

“There'll be a few horses in the race who don't stay, there'll be a few horses in the race who don't handle the track and there'll be a few horses in the race who don't handle the occasion – hopefully we'll be there trying to pick up some of the pieces. There's good place money down to sixth and [the owners are] all delighted that we're rolling the dice.”

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