It was heart in mouth stuff at Doomben on Wednesday when Jaden Lloyd attempted to squeeze along the rail at the 200m mark aboard Van Nuys in the XXXX DRY Class 1 Handicap over 1660m!
After successfully achieving that move for Esprit Racing last Friday on both Set Me Up and Dovetail Diva, Jaden went for the same run underneath the favourite Gerardjoseph, but for a couple of strides the gap looked to have closed and we held our breath.
Suddenly it reappeared and Jaden urged the 4yo Fiorente mare through and she responded immediately to win by 0.36l, but the margin could easily have been several lengths.
An impressive victory for this girl after her dominant maiden performance, and she does look to be going places as a very handy staying proposition.
Congratulations to owner Rob Matthews, and of course to the Esprit Racing team that are in tremendous form at present.