All Ways Glamorous ends 12-month drought in emotional Ffos Las win

All Ways Glamorous swept to a three-length victory in the 3:22 Diplomat Hotel Handicap at Ffos Las, making all over five furlongs on good ground and clocking 57.47 seconds for his first win in 12 months. The 2/1 chance held Zighy in a field of five and never looked in trouble once he was ridden clear from a furlong out.

The result mattered beyond the bare handicap form. It was the first winner in the Robert & Nina Bailey colours since Robert Bailey died in December, with Nina Bailey present to see the gelding deliver a sharp response after a frustrating spring. Gina Mangan, who partnered the horse for a third victory, said she would be very sad to lose the ride because he is the most exciting horse she has in front of her.

There was also a clear racing case for the turnaround. Timeform’s record shows All Ways Glamorous had shaped with promise when third at Ascot on 1 May, before a flat ninth of nine at Windsor on 18 May took the shine off his profile. Christopher Mason felt the gelding benefited from a return to running without cheekpieces, and that change, combined with a freshening up, seemed to unlock the sort of front-running control he had not shown at Windsor.

The horse’s profile suggests the win was not a fluke built on sentiment alone. All Ways Glamorous, a five-year-old bay gelding by Cable Bay out of Go Glamorous, has already proved capable in the right sort of sprint handicap, and Ffos Las looked like a good fit: a small field, a straight five-furlong test and a chance to dictate. The question now is whether Mason keeps him in that lane for another sprint handicap or whether the win simply reflected perfect conditions on the day.

For Mangan, the success also landed at a useful point in her own season. Timeform had her on 19 wins before the race, and Ffos Las took her to 20, a marker that underlined the confidence she has been carrying into the summer. Soldier Of The Sea was backed and won elsewhere on the card, but the feature belonged to All Ways Glamorous, who answered a year of near-misses with a clean, forceful return to form.