Cambridge trainer Ken Harrison landed a lightweight upset at Trentham on Saturday with Espresso To Go leading every step of the way.
The Tavistock gelding took a big step up in class and down in both distance and weight, having run a last-start second in the Duke Of Gloucester Cup (2100m) at Hastings on June 29. He carried 69kg in that amateur riders’ event and plummeted all the way down to 51kg on Saturday with Jim Chung’s apprentice claim.
Espresso To Go was sent out as the outsider of the field at $10 with horse racing bookies, but he went straight to the lead within the first few strides of the race and never gave his five rivals a look in.
The five-year-old kicked hard at the top of the home straight and put himself well out of reach, racing to victory by three and three-quarter lengths over the veteran Verry Flash.
Espresso To Go has now had 25 starts for three wins, five placings and $78,120 in stakes.
“It’s always good to win a race like the Whyte Handicap, I’ll take that any day,” said Harrison, who also shares ownership along with four others.
“He’s always shown a bit of ability, although mainly over a bit more ground than this. Dropping back to the mile was a bit of a question mark today, but with such a light weight, I thought it was worth having a go at it.”
It was the second leg of a race-to-race double for Chung, who had previously guided Tavis Court to a last-stride victory over Highlighter.
Chung came up just short in his attempt to ride all of the last three winners on the Trentham card, finishing second on the Johno Benner and Hollie Wynyard-trained Strides in the final race of the afternoon.
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