A RACE TO RACE DOUBLE FOR TEAM SEARS AT GRAFTON

By Graham Potter | Sunday, November 30, 2025

The Tony and Maddysen Sears stable landed a race-to-race double at Grafton on November 30.

The lightly raced Tarzino gelding Taravia, the $5.50 third favourite, was the first of the two Sears trained runners to salute, taking out a BM58 Handicap over 2230m, in the process claiming his second successive victory after shedding his Maiden ticket at the same track in his previous start over 1700m just nine days earlier.

The lightly raced four-year-old was third up here and clearly the progressive step up in distance over his three runs this time in … from 1410m first-up, to 1700 and now 2230m … has served him well.

Brandon Lerena gave Taravia the run of the race, making every use of the number one barrier draw to settle on the rail in third spot, some two to three lengths off the leader in the early part.

Lerena had Taravia hold that position until switching out two wide in a bunching field approaching the home turn as the challenges started coming around him.

Back to fourth on straightening, Taravia shifted in markedly early in the straight, but Lerena quickly got him balanced up again after which the Sears trained runner began to stretch out with meaning, chasing into a narrow lead with 300m left to run.

The only danger to Taravia now was the $3.10 favourite Enterprise Private who was chasing hard down the centre of the track. For a moment it looked like momentum might be on Enterprise Private’s side, but Taravia dug in for the fight and ultimately carried too many guns for the main fancy who he outstayed late to score by a comfortable margin of a little over a length.
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Cape Crusader put the Sears training double on the board in the very next race, winning a BM74 Handicap over1620m.

Cape Crusader was bouncing back to form here. The son of Heroic Valour had posted successive wins in June and October, either side of a four-month break from race action, but he had finished unplaced in two subsequent starts, a factor which contributed to the five-year-old jumping at a starting price of $6.50.

Another factor in that was the strong support for the $1.95 favourite Texas Fireball, and Texas Fireball was indeed one of the runners that Cape Crusader had to deal with over the closing stages to secure the win.

Like Taravia in the race before, Cape Crusader jumped from the number one barrier which allowed Dylan Turner to have him saving ground throughout while racing at a comfortable gallop in fifth place in the first half of the race … and then sixth place as the speed went on approaching the home turn.

In the straight, in the first instance, Turner looked to persevere with an inside run but then elected to switch out around the heels of the then leader Next Pay Run ($8).

Once into clear galloping room, Cape Crusader quickly gained a narrow advantage at the head of affairs, but Change The Date ($26) and Texas Fireball were now also in full cry on the outside of Cape Crusader and the Sears trained runner had to stay committed all the way to the line to peg back these two runners, with the post coming just in time for the Sears training partnership to complete a race-to-race double as Cape Crusader prevailed by 0.17 lengths in a busy finish.

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