A surprise result with Elite Belle defeating the short-priced favourite Barakey. Elite Belle settled at the tail of the eight-horse field, following a moderate tempo (first 600m 36.82). She switched deep on turning for home, showed a really good turn of foot from the 200m and finished too well to score impressively by almost a length at the post. Barakey went to the front and looked certain to win as he kicked clear on turning for home. But he had no answer to the winner’s late run and battled on to take second. Checkpoint raced three deep without cover outside the leaders. Put in a run at the 200m and then fought on well for third. Last year’s Kingston Town Classic (Gr 1, 1800m) winner Ihtsahymn tracked up three deep with cover in the mid-stages, fanned wide at the turn but then just battled on for (4 lengths) seventh.