Breath takes Temple honours

Bated Breath served further notice he is a sprinter to be reckoned with when producing a smart performance to land the Betfred.com Temple Stakes at Haydock.

Dropping to five furlongs for just the second time, Roger Charlton’s five-year-old (2-1 favourite) was moving with tremendous ease two furlongs out.

George Baker, standing in for the suspended James Doyle, pressed the button with a furlong to run and the response was immediate.

Last year’s winner Sole Power gave strong chase under Paul Hanagan but was a neck down at the line in a race run in a track record time.

Baker said: “I feel a bit sorry for James Doyle as he is banned, but his bad fortune is my good luck.

“The horse deserved this and hopefully this leads on to better things for him.”