Austin scores with Another Batt Another Batt showed plenty of guts in defying top weight in the Abbey Logistics Handicap to enable footballer Charlie Austin to come out on top in the battle of the footballers at Chester. The Southampton striker is a member of winning owners Excel Racing, while former England star Michael Owen is the owner of Dragons Tail, who made a bold bid from the front. Down in class, the George Scott-trained Another Batt (5-1 joint-favourite) looked like he would go away to win comfortably, but Dragons Tail stuck to his task gamely, only going down by a neck. Scott said: “He wears his heart on his sleeve and is wonderful to train. “He deserved a chance in this grade, he had the perfect draw and Silvestre (de Sousa) is made for him. “There are valuable races at Goodwood and Haydock for him and then at Ascot it will either be the Britannia or the Jersey, I would think.” A Momentofmadness benefited from a furious early gallop to win the Gateley PLC Handicap. Despite being drawn in stall one, the Charlie Hills-trained five-year-old could not get the early lead as John Quinn’s El Astronaute pinged the lids and raced into a clear advantage. William Buick had to rethink his plans and sat behind the leader until the cutaway, when he made his bid for home. The 11-4 favourite kept up the gallop to beat the fast-finishing Powerallied by a length, to give Hills a second winner of the meeting. “That was great, he’s much more manageable now as he used to be a bit of a tearaway,” said Hills. “The plan was to lead, but it seemed everyone else wanted to, so William just waited until the rail opened up — it was a great ride.” He added: “He’s in the Dash (at Epsom) and his owners would love a runner on Derby day.”
