The progressive four-year-old for Ben & JD Hayes made it six wins from fourteen starts, winning first up at Flemington.

Nicolini Vito is putting together a handy record for trainers Ben & Jd Hayes, recording his fourth win for the stable after being transferred from the Tom Dabernig yard in late 2020.

Sent around at $12 over a distance (1200m) punters thought may be shorter than his best, Nicolini Vito drove through late to deny Bill The Boxer his fourth win in a row, the photo finish showing the barest of margins between the two who were wide apart down the straight.

Co-trainer Ben Hayes was thrilled with how the horse had returned,

"He's a horse than can get a bit aggressive so he (Stackhouse) cuddled him up beautifully, he relaxed for him and we were lucky to get the bob I think, I wasn't quite sure if we won or not but a bit of racing luck on our side," Hayes said.

The stable will now look ahead to early Spring races with a handicap rating that can see him sneak into some better races.

"He was going to be tricky to place if he wasn't able to win this race today but now he's won, there's a lovely race in three weeks just up in class, open (handicap) 1400m which will be very suitable for him."

Ultimately the stable have some optimistic dreams with the horse this time in.

"He's a horse we've always really liked and he's just kept improving. The pie in the sky would be if we can sneak him into a Toorak (Handicap, G1) over a mile with minimum weight so winning this race helps," Hayes said.

Nicolini Vito justttt gets there!@benhayes90 pic.twitter.com/FrGJ0u7kZv

— 7HorseRacing (@7horseracing) July 16, 2022