Result : The Bath Matt Special Stakes

Time – 1:17 – 1st – 7 – Mr Badito – Oaklawn88 – G Walcott – 5/2

Chased leader, running wide through first 2f, 3 1/2l 2nd halfway. Strong drive home bend and led inside final furlong. Ran on well.

           + 1L  – 2nd – 3 – Raising Hell – Lazyriver – B Mann – 3/1

Good early pace and soon led. 3l clear, under pressure, entering home stretch. Passed by winner 1/2 a furlong out but kept on gamely for 2nd.

       + 1-1/2l – 3rd – 5 – Conservatory – Elesto – J Ventura – 7/1

Held up towards rear. Headway into midfield after 3f and went 3rd 2f out. Stayed on inside final furlong.

               +2l – 4th – 2 – Tete Drakon – Kartago – B Wu – 9/5fav

Dropped out early, last, 9 1/2l behind the leader after 3f. Rapid headway 2f out. Nearest finish.

          +3-1/4 – 5th – 4 – Minor Yours – twotwo – R Miavia – 10/1

Slowly away and soon at the back of the pack. Some headway turning for home. Kept on same pace.

          +3-1/4 – 6th -1 – Tears Of Autumn – Olypiafile – D Gullet – 5-1

Inside rail and well placed, chasing clear leader first 3 furlongs. No impression from 2f out, lost 5th close home.

         +19-3/4 – 7th – 6 – Ivory Elk – Mrblaze – L Ranger – 99/1

Unable to go the pace. Dropped to rear 2f out. Well behind.

Summary

Mr Bandito was a comfortable winner here. Racing much more prominently than he has been doing lately, he was the first to get a run on the long time leader and was given a greast ride by G Walcott. The jockey said afterwards “Some BTB reporter has dismissed this horse on 2 occasions now which shows what he knows. I knew this horse would win today, he is of a better class than his opponents here today and you`ll see him in Graded events in future i`m sure”.

Lazyriver will have been pleased with Raising Hell who had the run of the race. Given an uncontested lead he kept on very well when headed and, showing how versatile he is here, will give his owner a number of options as to where he goes next.

We may be seeing Conservatory race in Europe again after this effort. Always closing on the leaders late on, he posted his highest sp for a while. He may be better with a bit more distance.

The favourite, Tete Drakon, was given way too much to do by his ususally effective jockey B Wu. Coming with his customary late charge he was never going to peg back the leaders but this race was`nt ran to his liking. A red faced Mr Wu said afterwards “i misjudged it here. They went no sort of pace, i was held up by a few backmarkers and our run came too late”. This run is best ignored.

Of the others, Tears Of Autumn ran well enough without suggesting he`s back to his best but the one to note was Minor Yours, possibly a bit ring-rusty after a break, who is one to keep an eye on next time out.