Our Vespa has come back not much if any taller but certainly bulkier and still has his natural early dash. Whether he is just a sprinter will be found out this spring having been tried so far at no further than 1200m. He clocked 1:10.98 today and a comparison was the following Open Class sprint won in 1:10.36 so a four length difference and the track was posted a Dead6. The track bias at Ruakaka today was blatant and if you did not lead or race close then you were not going to win. Our Vespa was wide on the early speed but his rider Mark Du Plessis realized he was not going to cross and starting to look foolish so eased back fourth and wide at the 800m. The winning of the race however came across the top as able to get over third when a rival could not hold his position so a breather and cover were critical. Du Plessis surged up Vespa turning for home and he seemed likely to stride clear but needed to be ridden hard to concentrate it appeared before assuming control inside the final 100m. The local runner up Copy Watch in a quirky rule finished second and as a result was not able to be declared a late scratching after his gate was slow to open. He showed recovery speed to keep the eventual winner wide early and then after sitting second the outer took command at the 300m. Copy Watch forced the rider of Vespa to urge his mount strongly to get alongside at the 100m before taking command. Riding Shotgun was an honest third and an average start before recovering through third into the trail did not cost him a closer finishing position. Buffalo Boy ran okay in this line up with the inside trip to the home turn helping his cause. Prince Mambo is the one to be on next time as he too had a gate slow to open and got back on a day when you could not. He was warming up okay the final 50m. The three fillies in the race disappointed overall filling fourth last, second last and last at the line though Ruakaka is so biased that it may not translate further form-wise into the season for the trio.