Chester Vase reportHattan put his destructive powers to good use as he served up another surprise win for his trainer Clive Brittain in the MBNA Europe Bank Chester Vase yesterday.

The horse who cannot be left alone with a horse blanket such is his desire to tear them to shreds, channelled his energies in the right direction as he scored at 11 to 2 under Seb Sanders.

Brittain was winning the race for the third time in the last decade, having struck with Dutch Gold two years ago and Luso back in 1995.

Sanders was always in touch just in behind the leader First Row and the pair quickened away turning for home, along with favourite Almighty.

Despite running slightly wide off the bend, Hattan kept going all the way to the line and held the persistent challenge of the 100 to 30 market leader by half a length, with First Row a neck further away in third.

The Michael Stoute-trained Kalamkar, the subject of some interesting market support before the race, seemed to show his inexperience for much of the way but ran on promisingly at the end to take fourth.

From a family with which Brittain has excelled, the winner's close relations include the likes of Luso, who went on to win the Italian Derby after scoring here, Needle Gun and dual Coronation Cup hero Warrsan.

The latter will bid for a hat-trick of wins in that race next month at Epsom, with Hattan possibly set to line up in the Vodafone Derby the following day, provided that owner Saeed Manana gives Brittain the go-ahead.

The alternative is for him to follow the path trod by Luso.

"I'm thrilled for this horse - he's such a tough, little devil. He refuses to wear a rug which is why his coat isn't shining," said Brittain.

"Even with all the changes in the weather we've had, he never once coughed, never once had a dirty nose and he's first out in the morning.

"He's got guts. He was looping and bobbing about around the turn but when he gets down to it he finds another gear.

"I think he's a very useful three-year-old but he's going to be one heck of a four-year-old."

Brittain's plans may become clearer when his Party Boss takes part in his Derby Trial at Lingfield this Saturday, while it is the French version over a shorter trip which the trainer favours for 2,000 Guineas third Kandidate.

Explaining his affinity to the winner's family, he went on: "When you train these horses you have to forget about what you want to do and let them tell you.

"They'll give you everything if you don't bully them.

"They've all got character and this one is no exception. He's been through three horse blankets and he was starting to cost me more in rugs than I was getting in training fees.

"He gets on top of them, tears at them and pulls them to pieces so we stopped trying to put them on after a while."

Sanders, who had come into the race hopeful that his mount would find the necessary improvement from his previous starts, said: "To be fair to this horse, if he had jumped out of the stalls at Sandown he would have given the winner Fracas something to think about for sure.

"He still hasn't got the knack of jumping out of the gates but he's getting quicker and this was the first time I've been able to give him a proper ride.

"He doesn't know he's a racehorse yet."

Almighty's trainer Aidan O'Brien was happy with the effort of his charge.

"He ran a lovely race and we are delighted with him," he said.

"It was a big step up on his first run and he is going to step up again, he's going the right way."

Brian Meehan, trainer of First Row, said: "I'm very pleased with that. It was only his fourth start and Jimmy (Fortune) said he was just looking about a bit.

"I've always thought he was a horse with a future and he's improving all the time.

"He's in the Derby and we'll keep all our options open."