Commodore 64 - Multiple titles on a .TAP file

[whbinder]

I'm having a very specific issue launching TAP files through Retroarch with multiple titles. All the documentation says to create an M3U like any other format. But I consistently get the same issue. I've tried many variations of autostart, warp on/off.

In this specific example, I'm trying to load the second title on the tape (program one is "Monty on the Run" Program 2 is "Bounder".) If I run an M3U with file.tap:bounder (or file.tap:bounder:,1,1)  I get garbled text (See attachment 1)

SEARCHING FOR BOUNDER
FOUNDER MONTY ON THE RUN
FOUND <SPECIAL CHARACTERS>

-----BUT-----

If I reset the machine and let it autostart a second time. It finds the title (See Attachment 2)

SEARCHING FOR BOUNDER
FOUNDER MONTY ON THE RUN
FOUND BOUNDER

Any idea why autostart would fail but if I reset the system, it works on the second go? I don't really want to F1->Reset every time I want to play the game.

NOTE 1 The game loads just fine if I load it directly in VICE64 instead of the Retroarch Core, but sadly I can't see what commands its sending.
NOTE 2 I did use the approrpriate (seemingly random) capital letters to look for the exact ASCII garbage from the initial load, but that did not work

Any help is welcome.