Passengerontheship

England, who trains out of Guiseley in West Yorkshire and has sent out 49 winners this season alone, was candid on a stable tour last autumn that he felt he had let the horse down. Despite Passengerontheship finishing second on multiple occasions, the horses that beat him went on to do serious things — one was runner-up at the Punchestown festival, another won his next three races in a row. Being beaten by horses of that quality is no disgrace, but at the time nobody quite knew that. The trainer did say he had seen enough to be confident the horse would win races, noting he stays well and jumps efficiently despite not being the biggest. It turned out to be quite the understatement.

Everything clicked at Hexham in May, where Passengerontheship got off the mark for the first time. He has made that track something of a personal fiefdom ever since — winning 4 of his 5 races there, which is a remarkable record at any course. To win 80% of your races somewhere, consistently and across multiple visits, suggests a horse that is genuinely suited by the track rather than getting lucky once. He added another win at Cartmel just three weeks ago and raced again only yesterday, so this is a horse in the thick of a busy, productive campaign.

The one wrinkle worth noting is that his 10 races alongside regular jockey Jonathan England have produced zero wins between them, while his five career victories have come with other riders aboard. That is a curious anomaly worth watching. What is not in doubt is his love of normal ground conditions — all five of his wins have come on a standard surface, and he has won 5 of his 9 races in those conditions, a win rate of 56%. Keep him on decent ground and pointed at Hexham, and Passengerontheship looks like a horse that will keep finding his way to the winner's enclosure.