William Haggas’ talented gelding swooped late to deny Kinross at Newcastle.
William Haggas' six-year-old looked to have plenty to do with a furlong to run, but regular rider Cieren Fallon never panicked and produced the gelded son of Exceed And Excel with a well-timed winning run.
The 5/2 market leader Kinross looked as though he had things wrapped up entering the final half furlong but Ralph Beckett's returning to action Group 1 winner couldn't match the finishing kick of Montaasib, who pulled away to score by a snug three-quarters of a length in the closing stages.
"I'm delighted to win a Group 3 with him, he's a good horse who just wants a bit of cut in the ground," said Haggas, who was completing a hat-trick in the contest after Sense Of Duty and Tiber Flow landed the prize in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Paddy Power cut the winner to 10/1 (from 14s) for the Stewards' Cup at Glorious Goodwood, but with Montaasib now forced to carry a group race winners' penalty in the contest, Haggas is keen to stick to stakes races.
He added: "I'm not sure where we'll go now, but he won't go to Goodwood for the Stewards' Cup. He'd have to carry a Group-race penalty now, so I think we're doomed (in handicap company).
"I think we'll stick to stakes races and go wherever we can get a bit of dig in the ground.
"He'll be an outsider, but it would be nice to think he might end up running on Champions Day at Ascot."
It was a quickfire opening race double for winning jockey Cieren Fallon, who said of the winner: "He's such a good horse and he has such a turn of foot off a strong gallop. We saw it at Doncaster, where he had nowhere to go with half a furlong to go and he got the gap and off he went. It was the same today.
"At York the last day, things didn't work out, I didn't give him the best of rides and I had to make up for it today. I was very confident, as with Kinross coming in off such a long lay-off, I thought if I was going to get him anywhere, it was going to be in the last half-furlong, and everything went right."
