Cracking drive delivers milestone

A CRACKING drive resulted in a personal milestone for star young reinsman Will Rixon in Wagga last night.

Partnering evergreen veteran Max Delight in The Bidgee, Rixon "outdrove" his peers to secure the $100,000 feature, ultimately registering his 1000th victory.

As pleased as he is with Max Delight's effort, trainer David Aiken was quick to pile the praise on Rixon's initiative in the Group Three.

"That was a cracking drive," Aiken said. "Once Will found the front Max was always going to be hard to beat, but Will outdrove them to ensure the win.

"Running that 26.7-second quarter down the back took the sting out of them and set up the win.

"Max has a pretty good record over the journey and was always going to be suited to the 2800 metres, but Will make ever post a winning one."

Pushed through from his second row draw, Max Delight worked to the front as the early pacemaker, Palladium, was eased to take a trial.

Striding clear during the latter stages, the son of Bettors Delight completed a four-and-a-half metre win from Palladium.

Forever Onthe Punt, a Brad Hewitt-trained stablemate of the runner-up, was two metres away third.

Rating 1:54.1, Max Delight took his record to 40 wins and 56 placings from 173 starts for earnings of $2,135,746.

"He's just Mister Reliable," Aiken said. "Even if he doesn't finish in the placings, he doesn't necessarily run a bad race!

"I'll nominate him for Len Smith at Club Menangle in a fortnight next and hopefully draws a decent alley in that."