DRAMA FROM START TO FINISH IN THE GRAFTON CUP

By Graham Potter | Thursday, July 17, 2025

The 2025 Grafton Cup was a three-horse story in the end, offering more than a touch of drama from start to finish before the Annabel and Rob Archibald trained Don Diego De Vega hit the line to claim victory.

Bear On The Loose, the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained gelding was the first point of focus … and it was not a good outcome.

The five-year-old, who had finished second in the Caloundra Cup, was the race favourite when the field circled around behind the barriers, clearly in with a strong chance of giving Waterhouse her sixth win in the race (she had previously won four in her own right and one with Bott) … but, just minutes later, those walls of aspiration came tumbling down when Bear On The Loose was declared a late scratching on medical advice after an incident in the gates.

That left Don Diego De Vega and Quietness at the top of the betting boards as joint favourites at $4.60, and they duly contested the finish … not that there was anything straightforward about that either.

Andrew Atkins set out on the John O’Shea and Tom Charlton trained Quietness intent of controlling the race from the front and making every post a winning one. He had the lead leaving the straight for the first time … while Zac Lloyd settled Don Diego De Vega into the box seat, third on the rail, a little over two lengths behind his main rival with Touristic, a $21 chance, splitting the two favourites in second place.

And that’s how they stayed all of the way to the home turn.

At the point of the turn Quietness shifted out a couple of horse widths, a move which offered Don Diego De Vega a run along the inside. Touristic and Zoology, who was improving right along the inside rail, were the other runners in contention at this stage.

It looked all set for a highly competitive finish … but, then the critical moment of the race arrived.

With Quietness holding his head to the side, Atkins drew his whip through from his left hand to his right hand, and, when he then tried to encourage his mount further, Quietness immediately ran away from the whip, shifting ground out across the track in dramatic fashion. losing ground in the process.

Incredibly though, at the same time, Lloyd went for the whip on Don Diego De Vega and the Archibald trained runner followed Quietness out across the track, and they once again soon found themselves right next to each other, now with the race to themselves and line beckoning.

When Atkins put the whip back in his left hand, these two runners appeared to brush with only 100m left to run, but, after all that had transpired, it was Don Diego De Vega who held a narrow advantage in the closing stages and he pushed on all the way to the line to beat Quietness by a 0.72 length margin.

"The plan sort of changed in the barriers when Bear On The Loose got scratched … he was probably one of the speed runners in the race," Lloyd told Sky Racing post-race.

"I made my mind up in the gates. He was very well pre-race and going to the gates he was full of energy, so I was confident he was going to begin well and once he did that, it really made my job pretty easy.

“I got a perfect run behind Quietness. He obviously rolled off the fence. We ducked out a bit too … I probably should have changed my whip … but we were in front then, so it didn’t matter.

It was the French import’s first win in Australia, the Archbald’s first Grafton Cup success and Zac Lloyd’s first win in the race as the owners, trainers and jockey added another victory to their respective ever-growing list of feature race wins.

Brendan Nelson, representing the Australian Bloodstock ownership group, indicated that this Maiden win in Australia has spurred hope for possible future success with Don Diego De Vega.

"He has been a wonderful horse. He hasn't shown us everything yet, but we can't wait to see where this takes him,” said Nelson.

‘We’ve always thought that he has more in the tank than just the 2000m.

“Fingers crossed we will see him a little bit later in the year. He has certainly shown us he's got plenty of ability."

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