Double Expresso Defies the Odds
Double Expresso returning after her win at Gloucester Park on Friday night. Photo Credit- Hamilton Content Creators
After being given just a 50% chance of returning to the racetrack, the handy mare has defied all odds, making her return to racing late in the season and ultimately returning to the winner’s circle last Friday night at Gloucester Park.
After being diagnosed with severe bruising and erosion of the left hind fetlock joint at the end of her three-year-old campaign last year, and with the severity of her injuries leaving her with a less than ideal chance of racing again, it was decided that she would be sent to the paddock to start her rehabilitation before making her comeback.
“We followed the expert advice of Dr David Murphy at Murdoch and she ended up having 6 months off in total,”
“Her work early on was exceptional and she ran some good trials and races from crook barriers. But her form started to taper, and I was starting to become concerned whether her injury was bothering her or was she simply leg weary from the sand work,”
“She passed all my veterinary examinations on her, so we decided to give her a 2 week freshen up in the paddock and start again.” Hayman said.
Purchased at the 2018 APG Yearling sales, Double Expresso has been nothing but a dream for her connections, with $327,644 in stakes and a winner of 13 races including taking out the Group 1 2YO Fillies Sales Classic Final in 2019, followed by the Group 1 2YO Fillies Westbred Classic just three months later.
As a three-year-old she strung together three in a row when she took out the Group 2 Dainty’s Daughter, Group 2 3YO Sales Classic as well the Caduceus Club Classic, and just two months later taking out second prize in the Group 1 WA Oaks, but it was just five starts later that Jemma Hayman and Ross Olivieri discovered that something was amiss with their special horse.
“She was pretty fit and loved galloping in the sand which is what we did with her as a 3yo, arguably her best campaign. It was also the best way I knew how to keep her joints sound.”
However, this time it seemed that the sand work was potentially taking her speed away, so we backed off her training and switched her back to hoppling and this has worked wonders for her. She has done a mighty job for us and has nothing left to prove.”
With managing owner Jemma Hayman a Veterinarian herself, she plays integral part of Double Expressos training and everyday life but insists that it’s a team effort at their stables.
“With the recent passing of Percy Johnson, who played a big part in my life and our stable, I know he’s been with us this week with Run For Mercy and Double Expresso,”
Although her future on the track is uncertain, Hayman and Olivieri will be taking each run as they come, but if she continues to perform as she did on Friday, they will be targeting the feature mares races next Autumn.
“Although this last win really proved to me that she’s all heart, and her heart is still in racing,”
“If there was the slightest doubt that she was not 100% right, then she was to be retired.”
Ashleigh Paikos