XPRESSO GRINDS HIS WAY TO ANOTHER WIN

By Graham Potter | Monday, May 6, 2024

The David Vandyke trained Xpresso made it two wins from three starts since transferring to the Vandyke stable when he landed a Class 6 Handicap over 1100m at Ipswich on May 6.

The five-year-old son of Xtravagant only arrived at the Vandyke stable earlier this year as a three-time winner from eighteen starts (he relocated from the stable of trainer Nathan Doyle) and he was given two trials during a settling in period before Vandyke gave him to the green light for race action.

He duly won first-up for Vandyke (also at Ipswich over 1100m) and then was tested in town, going to Eagle Farm where Xpresso finished fourth in a BM88 over 1200m.

Then it was straight back to Ipswich ... to the track and distance where he secured his first win for Vandyke ... and history repeated itself as Xpresso put a second win for the stable on the scoreboard.

Ryan Maloney was positive out of the gates on Xpresso, but still remained measured in his approach as he took the Vandyke trained runner into third and then second place, taking up a watching brief less than two lengths behind the front-running Dashing Gee Gee ($21).

Maloney then asked Xpress to go up and tackle Dashing Gee Gee early in the home straight ... which he did ... but a fight awaited him as Dashing Gee Gee responded to the challenge, kicking on strongly, making Xpresso work every inch of the way for victory.

It was only in the last 50m that Xpresso was able to secure a winning advantage, in the end getting the job done with 0.85 lengths to spare.

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