Botti raids American St Leger again Dandino overcame a troubled passage to provide Marco Botti with back-to-back victories in the American St Leger at Arlington. The Newmarket based handler picked up the inaugural running of this extended one mile five furlong contest with Jakkalberry and his six year old was ultimately well on top at the wire as he followed suit. Ojos De Hiello and Ioya Bigtime duelled for the lead for much of the contest with Ryan Moore content to settle Dandino in fifth and Wigmore Hall held-up in rear. With half a mile to run, Code Of Conduct had moved up to challenge for the lead and he had hit the front by the three pole with the field closing up behind. He was still in front at the top of the stretch with Najjaar challenging on the outside and it momentarily looked as though the Shadwell Stud owned colt would land a surprise victory with Moore angling for room between runners and finding his path blocked. The gelded son of Dansili picked up well on the outside, however, and ran on strongly to claim the valuable conditions contest with Suntracer following him through for second with Najjaar relegated to third. "I was locked in the whole race, but he was the best horse," Moore. "He picked up natural. I thought I'd keep it simple, but they were on top of me the whole race." "Very testing ride," said Liz Dance, wife of the owner. "Bit of a check at the top of the straight, which worried us, but Ryan found the gap. A magnificent ride." Dandino could now follow a similar path to last year's winner who was only beaten two and three quarter lengths into third in the Melbourne Cup.
