Racing
Star duo cap a brilliant 2025
Durazzo put the finishing touch on a magnificent 2025, taking out the $125,000 Kevin Sharkie The Inevitable Stakes (1600m) in Hobart on Sunday afternoon.
As was the case with his recent victory in the Conquering, things didn't go to plan for the $1.35 favourite, forced to work early in the race to take up a position outside the leader Bank Maur ($9.50).
Durazzo put paid to the effort of the leader and withstood a challenge from Just Cruisin' ($4.60), who enjoyed the run of the race tracking the favourite throughout.
The Durazzo/Just Cruisin' exacta was their third of the Summer Racing Festival, following the Newmarket and the Conquering. Bank Maur was much improved, finishing third, over five lengths ahead of First Accused ($14), in fourth.
"He was terrific, wasn't he? He worked hard early. I thought he might've been vulnerable first run at the mile (this prep); he's only had one start over the mile in his life, and he won that. He was good," trainer Barry Campbell said.
Now the undisputed weight-for-age star of Tasmanian racing, Durazzo took his record to 11 wins from 15 starts, with his prize money approaching $600,000.
While intent on aiming for a clean sweep of the Tasmanian summer features, for the first time, Campbell alluded to an interstate target for the five-year-old.
"If we're going to go to Melbourne, he'll go there with about six runs under the belt, so there will still be something left.
"I'd like to get an invite to the All-Star Mile. I don't know whether that would happen, but it would be nice if it did. It's only 12 days after the race in Launceston (Hellova Street Stakes).
Is the younger brother better?Jockey Kelvin Sanderson had a day to remember, going 3/3 in the day's feature races, partnering Durazzo's younger brother, Mazzini ($1.60), to victory in the Listed Ladbrokes Tasmanian Guineas (1600m) for Campbell and Star Thoroughbreds.
With the scoreboard locked at one all with Crack the Shutters following a split of the 3YO Cup (1200m) and 3YO Trophy (1400m), Mazzini put the ledger in his favour in emphatic fashion, leading all the way for a dominant victory by over three lengths.
Crack the Shutters ($2.90) was game in defeat, finishing a clear second ahead of Tasmanian-bred Victorian visitor, Tempt the Gods ($18).
"He's still learning, the penny hasn't dropped, and to be fair to him, he's probably a prep away," Barry Campbell said.
Injury forced Durazzo to miss the bulk of his 3yo season, but his brother is more than making up for it, now victorious in five of his six career starts.'
"Kelvin (Sanderson) galloped him the other morning and said I reckon this will be the next Durazzo."
The third of Sanderson's feature wins came aboard the Glenn Stevenson-trained Asva ($6) in the $50,000 The Wakeful Club Brighton Cup (2020m).
The 6yo showed he will be a leading local hope in the upcoming major Cups with a 2.25-length victory.
Asva finished fourth in the Devonport Cup in 2025 and will have his next start in that race on 7 January 2026. The Brighton Cup win also ensures Asva a spot in the 2026 Hobart Cup.
"I'm really keen to have a crack at Hobart and Launceston, and if he can learn to stay and travel, I think we're a chance," Stevenson said.
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