It had been a Queensland Winter Racing Carnival of bad luck for the always honest Gold Coast-trained Bandipur but finally the son of Commands celebrated a deserving win in the Listed $80,000 Eye Liner Stakes (1200m) at Ipswich.

Bandipur (pictured at Caulfield) was a deserving winner of the Eye Liner Stakes 2020 at Ipswich. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

The Mishani Enterprises-raced five-year-old has been firing on all cylinders this prep but unable to get things his way on race day with bad barriers and luckless runs.

Two back he was runner-up in the Listed Ascot Handicap (1200m) at Eagle Farm before being caught wide throughout when a brave 10^th only 2.3 lengths off the winner Signore Fox at Grafton in the Listed Ramornie Handicap (1200m) with 59kg last start.

He came back to 58.5kg for the Eye Liner Stakes on Gai Waterhouse Classic Day, but had to be ridden for luck again by jockey Jag Guthmann-Chester drawing out wide again in gate 10 of 14.

“When the barriers come out, I just thought ‘not again!’,” trainer Purdy said post-win.

“I told Jag he’s just got to ride him for luck and hope for the best.”

From the gate Bandipur found himself settled towards the back of the field as Tarzan led them around in the Eye Liner Stakes.

Once on the straight, Guthmann-Chester drove through to grab the lead as a field of horses vied for positions, charging ahead for a three-quarter length win aboard the deserving Bandipur ($11).

In second was another backmarker, Chris Munce’s one-time favourite Boomsara ($5.50) who was shuffled back third or fourth last around the bend before getting up through for second.

The Darryl Hansen-trained Monsieur Gustave ($19) snared third in a photo with I Dream Of Green ($18) who was up notably in grade to round out the Eye Liner Stakes trifecta.

“I’m just so relieved!” Purdy said.

“That horse, he’s just a little gun. He’s just had no luck the whole carnival.

“He’s just been flying. When you look at his runs, you just can’t knock him.

“The horse deserves it.”

Bandipur now heads out for a spell before targeting a Wild Card entry into one of the Magic Millions Day races at home on the Gold Coast next January.

“It makes it so much easier to get up in the morning when you’ve got a nice horse like this in the stable,” Purdy said.

2020 Eye Liner Stakes Results

Colour	Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Penalty	Starting Price
	1	2	BANDIPUR	Kelly Purdy	Jag Guthmann-Chester		10	58.5kg		$11
	2	4	BOOMSARA	Chris Munce	Brad Stewart	0.5L	5	56.5kg		$5.50
	3	8	MONSIEUR GUSTAVE	Darryl Hansen	Dale Smith	0.6L	7	54.5kg		$19
	4	14	I DREAM OF GREEN	Stuart Kendrick	Jake Bayliss	0.7L	2	54kg		$18
	5	1	DEEP IMAGE	Robert Heathcote	Ms Stephanie Thornton	0.9L	14	59kg		$10
	6	9	MR BELLAGIO	Toby & Trent Edmonds	Robbie Fradd	1.4L	12	54kg		$3.90F
	7	6	MISHANI HUSTLER	Les Ross	Mark Du Plessis	1.5L	11	55kg		$16
	8	11	SHARPE HUSSLER	Darryl Ward	Ron Stewart	2.25L	3	54kg		$26
	9	5	PENNINO	Darryl Hansen	Jim Byrne	2.75L	8	55kg		$4
	10	7	FIERY HEIGHTS	Barry Lockwood	Boris Thornton	3.5L	13	54.5kg		$31
	11	12	WINTER PASSAGE	Stuart Kendrick	Tegan Harrison	3.7L	4	54kg		$41
	12	13	ATOUCHMORE	Mitchell Fry	Micheal Hellyer	4L	9	54kg		$201
	13	3	TARZAN	Stuart Kendrick	Baylee Nothdurft (a)	4.75L	1	57.5kg		$21
	14	10	HARD STRIDE	Jason Judge	Taylor Marshall	7L	6	54kg		$201