Kelvin Sanderson was the standout performer at last Sunday’s Hobart meeting bagging all three features on the card.
He kicked off with exciting three-year-old Mazzini, who completed a hat-trick of all-the-way wins by notching a dominant 3¼-length victory in the listed $125,000 Tasmanian Guineas over 1600 metres.
The Barry Campbell-prepared Needs Further gelding has only tasted defeat once in his six-start career and that was when he played up badly before the start of the 3YO Cup at his second run this time in.
Sanderson later teamed with Glenn Stevenson to take the $50,000 Brighton Cup (2020m) with Asva, who enjoyed a box-seat trail before drawing clear for a soft 2¼-length victory.
The win provided the gelded son of Capitalist with ballot-free entry to the Hobart Cup and he should prove competitive in that feature given he ran fourth and seventh respectively in the Devonport and Launceston cups last season.
Mazzini’s older full brother and stablemate, Durazzo, provided Sanderson with his treble, also completing a hat-trick of wins in the listed $125,000 The Inevitable Stakes over 1600 metres.
After camping outside race leader Bank Maur, the sparingly raced five-year-old drew clear before holding off the late challenge of the Kelvin Hamilton-prepared Just Cruisin’ for the third successive time.
Durazzo is set to continue on a local weight-for-age path over the summer but Campbell is keen to test his stable star interstate and is hopeful of gaining an invite to the All-Star Mile, set to be run just 10 days after his final local assignment this campaign, the Hellova Street Stakes — a race he won last year.
Elsewhere on the card Brendan McShane’s highly promising galloper Skin In The Game continued his rapid rise through the grades, taking the benchmark 68 handicap over 1400 metres after camping just off the pace under Anthony Darmanin.
The Turffontein gelding has now won six from eight and finished runner-up on the other two occasions. He appears right on target for a clash with Durazzo in the Thomas Lyons Stakes on Hobart Cup day.