Jockey Patrick Moloney retains his conviction that Express Class possesses the latent ability to claim a significant race victory in the future.
After a commanding debut win at Sandown approximately twelve months prior, Express Class was subsequently elevated to Stakes company for three-year-olds across two starts in the following month. His second excursion in this grade resulted in a third-place finish in the Group 3 Vain Stakes.
Following a spell during the spring racing period, the Gerard Moloney-trained Express Class returned for a late summer-autumn campaign. His resumption saw him contest a benchmark race against older rivals, before he re-entered Stakes company for three more assignments, culminating in a seventh-place finish in the prestigious Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington.
Express Class is slated to embark on his spring campaign in the Quayclean Handicap (1100m) at Caulfield this Saturday. Moloney is optimistic about a positive outcome, despite the horse being allocated barrier 12 in the 14-runner field.
“He’s had two nice trials coming into it, albeit his last one he got a bit lost at Caulfield going up the back straight and running up the hill,” Moloney commented.
“He didn’t know what was going on, but his work has been excellent.
“We’ve been working him in blinkers which he will have on Saturday, and I think you’ll find a much more furnished horse this time around.”
Moloney noted that Express Class is still refining his ‘race smarts’ and anticipates that the addition of blinkers will prove beneficial.
“When the penny drops, he’s definitely good enough to put a race away like this,” Moloney stated.
“But it just seems, every time he gets to Caulfield, he draws badly and has to take his medicine early and is that flashing light run.
“He can do a few things wrong by the same token, so I’m hoping with the blinkers on and the track is racing true and you can make ground out in the middle, or wider, you’ll see a horse that has come back an improved animal.”
With Express Class set to turn four in just over a week, Moloney indicated that his campaign would likely progress through the benchmark system in the ensuing weeks, dependent on his Saturday performance.
“He’ll be a four-year-old in a few days and only has the one win, so we’ll just work out where he is in the pecking order and work with his rating,” Moloney explained.
“He just needs to prove himself through the ratings, but what he shows at home he can be a nice Saturday horse, and to what extent, we don’t know.
“We just hope that he brings what he does at home, to the races.”
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