Saturday’s Racing Tips – Richard Kingscote will be a Passenger on the smart Sir Michael Stoute horse

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It was a profitable day on Friday with the George Boughey stable debutante winning nicely under Billy Loughnane. As expected, the horse was ahead of the handicapper and won with plenty left, and the horse did very little when hitting the front.

Fakhama also ran a belter and landed us some place money at 16/1 at York in the Listed race. Kevin Stott had her positioned beautifully and she travelled nicely, as well as showing battling attributes when coming under pressure. The short-price favourite wasn't great, and it was the right decision to take her on.

As for the other two selections, they were very disappointing, especially Individualism. The Charlie Johnston horse ran a stinker, and I don't think that was a true showing as his gas tank emptied and emptied very quickly. The Shadwell John and Thady Gosden runner didn't progress how I expected, and the winner was comfortably beaten by many lengths by my selection last time out, so once again horse racing maths chucked up a strange result.

Cairnzy has been busy with real-world stuff and hasn't got the time to research the races and put up some selections for Saturday, so it's just the two fancies from Rizzel. As always, let us know what you fancy in the comments.

Friendly Soul 7/2 – Ascot 2.25

This is actually a very good-looking Group 3 for the Fillies and Mares, with a case to be made for a fair chunk of the runners. I am banking on a return to form for Friendly Soul who was lifeless at York last time out, but that was far from the real Friendly Soul that we saw the time before Newmarket.

Similarly to the Godolphin runner, Friendly Soul is extremely lightly raced with just three runs under her belt, and if you are willing to forgive her odds-on defeat at York in a Group 3 back in the middle of May, you've got to say she has a huge chance based on her performance the time before that. I thought she looked like a real top-draw filly at Newmarket when winning a Listed race, she did everything right that day, which must've come as a surprise as she was hardly fancied in the market, winning at odds of 10/1. Kieran Shoemark has been getting a lot of stick since becoming the Gosden main jockey, but he gave her a belting ride the time before last. He got her to the front and got her in a beautiful rhythm and when Kieran asked her to go and stretch, she did and showed a good turn of foot and then battled hard to the line, beating the runner-up by 1.25L, with the others being miles behind. Her turn of foot when entering the dip on the Rowley Mile gives me optimism that today's drop in trip will be no problem for her as she is coming back to a mile, but I'm hoping for similar tactics from the Newmarket race, which should ensure it's a stamina test, which she has the upper hand on the majority of these.

The form of the Newmarket race looks decent as the runner-up has franked the form by finishing 3rd/12 in a Group 2 at Royal Ascot, and then went to Hamilton in a Listed race where she thumped horses rated 104 and 107 by 4.5L and 6.5L, and that is closer than it should've been as she was eased down. The horse back in fourth of the Newmarket race is a stablemate of Friendly Soul and she has since finished a much closer 4th in a Listed race and then was 2nd/30 in a Royal Ascot handicap, just behind Soprano.

If the real Friendly Soul turns up, the 3/1 floating around could prove to be massive odds.

Passenger 13/8 – York 3.15

I'm more than happy to back Passenger at 13/8 in this four-runner race, and that might seem strange given he is carrying a penalty and sees him with a lump of weight on his back against some very useful horses, but I think he is a very classy horse.

I have always been a huge fan of Passenger since his run in the Dante on this track last year where he would've and should've won if getting a clear run, and he would've won by a number of lengths as he was cantering all over that Dante field, which in hindsight has turned out to be a decent bunch. Before touching on those horse in the Dante, it's best to mention his run in the Derby as it wasn't a great effort. In my opinion, it was too soon for him, for such an inexperienced horse to go to the Derby where the occasion can get to a horse, as well as the undulations of Epsom where the track can be tricky for horses with a limited amount of runs, I think he could easily have been excused. He put that right when winning a Group 3 at Windsor later in the season and this year he returned with a career-best at Chester when beating a good field in a Group 2.

The form of the Chester win looks good as the runner-up has since won the Wolferton Stakes at Royal Ascot in taking fashion, pretty much winning it doing handstands. Going back to the Dante, the form looks strong as White Birch who was the runner-up has since finished 3rd in the Derby, and this year has won a Group 3, 2 and 1, beating Auguste Rodin on his latest start, which is undoubtedly a cracking piece of form, yet when Passenger was racing against him in the Dante, he would've made him look ordinary.

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