Doncaster: Kingston Hill cruises in Racing Post Trophy Stakes

Kingston Hill, skipping over soft ground, scored a 4 1/2-length victory in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy Stakes on Saturday at Doncaster in England.

Winning for the third time in as many starts for trainer Roger Varian and owner Paul Smith, who supplemented their colt into the race, Kingston Hill settled into a tracking position in the one-mile straight-course race for 2-year-olds under jockey Andrea Azteni. Buonarroti set the pace and was allowed to open up a big lead about three furlongs from the finish, but Kingston Hill set off after him with a little more than a quarter-mile to run, overtook the pacesetter more than a furlong from the finish, and ran to the winning post unchallenged.

Johann Strauss rallied mildly to finish second, while Altruistic was third. Pinzolo, who finished 10th, and Century, who was last of 11, where short-priced disappointments.

Kingston Hill’s time on a soft course was a slow 1:44.83, belying the strength of his performance. The winner of the Group 3 Autumn Stakes in his most recent race, Kingston Hill, a son of first-crop stallion Mastercraftsman, has won three times at three tracks while never being seriously challenged and has the pedigree to suggest that longer distances might be within his scope.

He is being widely supported in early ante-post betting for the 2014 Epsom Derby.