Passion And Glory gets his day in the Bahrain sun

Godolphin horses dominated the finish in Bahrain for a second time this season as Passion And Glory beat First Ruler in the Listed His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa Cup on Friday, 10 March.

Passion And Glory, who had chased home Dubai Future in November’s G3 Bahrain International Trophy, was held up towards the rear of the 14 runners by Danny Tudhope after breaking awkwardly and meeting early traffic.

The Saeed bin Suroor-trained seven-year-old made rapid headway around the field entering the home straight and cruised into contention down the centre of the course with two furlongs to race.

First Ruler made his challenge for William Buick at the same time, with the Godolphin duo quickening away from their rivals approaching the final furlong.

Passion And Glory opened up a narrow advantage and drifted into First Ruler half a furlong out, impeding the four-year-old’s momentum, before seeing out the 12-furlong trip well to prevail by a length and three-quarters.

Saeed bin Suroor said: “It’s a great result to see Passion And Glory come back here and win. The jockey looked after him with the relatively strong early pace and he was travelling really well when it came to the bend.

“Passion And Glory has always liked racing right-handed and that’s why we sent him to this race. He has been doing very well at home and we are very happy with today’s result.”

Danny Tudhope added: “I didn’t quite want to ride Passion And Glory that way, but sometimes you have to go to plan B and it all worked out well for him in the end. He was nice and relaxed and, when I turned into the straight, I was full of horse.

"He was the best horse in the race on form and runs his best races on right-handed tracks, so we were pretty confident. It’s great to be a part of Godolphin and ride for Saeed, who I have been with all winter. We have had great success.”