Bath: Arbuthnot finds cause for celebration.

Byline: Graham Dench

the day at a glance

Star performance

Claradotnet in the fillies' maiden. It's all relative and she might not be a star in the proper sense of the term, but she stood out on this very weak card

Ride of the day

Simon Whitworth's riding of Twilight Mistress was an object lesson in how to navigate Bath's tricky sprint course

In from the cold

Twilight Mistress's trainer David Arbuthnot, who could be in for a good autumn now his horses are returning to form

David ArbuthnoT ended a losing streak that stretched back 67 days and 51 runs when Twilight Mistress came from virtually last to first to lead on the line in the sprint handicap.

The five-year-old was probably making her last appearance on the racecourse, for after Simon Whitworth had got her home by a head from Byo, the stable's representative James Paul said: "She's in foal to Bold Edge, I think, and that's almost certainly her last race before she goes to stud."

He added: "We've had a bit of a virus, and a lot of ours are waiting for some rain, but they are starting to come right and we had the fourth there too with Long Tall Sally."

Rod Millman will arrive at Doncaster Sales today with a spring in his step after Somerset West ended a losing run of around a month by taking the sprint maiden.

Millman has orders at the sales, which begin today, although he could always do with more, and he has two runners each in tomorrow's pounds 200,000

St Leger Yearling Stakes and in Friday's consolation event, which is good going by any standards.

After Somerset West had upset the odds laid on a reluctant-looking Ela Figura and scored by a length in the hands of George Baker, Millman, who has such a good record in sales races, said: "We've gone a few weeks without a winner, so that's nice.

"This horse was beaten only four lengths by Elusive City last year and we thought he was nice. He's not bad looking and he'll go to the sales at the end of the year."

Stuart Kittow saddled his first winner at Bath when Top Trees, ridden by Franny Norton, beat Andromache by a length and a quarter in the maiden handicap.

Kittow said: "He only cost 600gns to buy out of Jamie Osborne's stables at Doncaster Sales, and he was unlucky in a handicap hurdle at Newton Abbot last week, where I think he'd have won if he'd jumped the last better. He's a little bit quirky, but he's in great shape at the moment."

Another former Osborne-trained horse had won the nursery half an hour previously, but Rabitatit had been rather more expensive when bought out of a Folkestone seller 18 days previously, her new owners having paid 10,600gns for her at auction.

The filly, apprentice Robert Miles's only ride at the track before dashing on to Warwick, where he was just touched off on James Fanshawe's Etching in the last, beat Kawakib readily by a length and a half.

John O'Shea, for whom Rabitatit was racing for the first time, was taking his score for the year, including National Hunt winners, to a best-ever 21, an excellent tally from around only 16 horses.

He said: "The way she won at Folkestone I thought the mile would suit her, but she was very much on her toes beforehand, which worried me. The owner [Gary Roberts] claimed her at Folkestone, and she's a nice, big filly."

Willie Supple was suspended for three days (September 17-19) for using his whip with excessive frequency on the runner-up.

George Duffield, who had a disappointing ride on the odds-on top-weight Fritillary in the nursery, had earlier won the

two-year-old auction race on Ralph Beckett's Catie Dash, who won well from Lyrical Girl. Duffield is a rare visitor to Bath, but his record since 1999 now reads three wins from only 13 rides.

Paul Eddery, who rode his first domestic winners of the season with a Derek Haydn Jones double at Southwell last week, had another winner for the stable when Consignia landed the seller. She attracted no bid.

Easiest winner of the afternoon was Henry Cecil's Claradotnet in the fillies' maiden. The Sri Pekan filly had her five rivals well strung out at the finish and her rider Richard Quinn said: "I think she'll improve again.

"She showed her inexperience going round the bend, but then came back on the bridle and won well."

CAPTION(S):

Scenic route: the runners head down the back straight at Bath in the maiden handicap won by Top Trees