Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Diego’s spectacular burst of form knows no bounds, and the New Zealand-bred seven-year-old continued his triumphant march towards the $1 million Nullarbor Slot race on April 14 with another superb victory at Gloucester Park on Friday night when he outpaced his rivals in the $50,000 Aaron Bain Racing Governor’s Cup.
Diego, who is prepared by Hall of Fame trainer Gary Hall Snr, has amassed $600,775 in prizemoney from six wins and two thirds from his past eight starts.
Once again, Diego was driven perfectly by Maddison Brown for the gelding’s New Zealand breeders and owners Syd and Shona Brown. The son of champion sire Bettors Delight was the $2.50 favourite and he was not seriously challenged on his way to winning by just over a length from $19 chance Sangue Reale, with Minstrel ($3.90) a fighting third.
Sangue Reale started from the No. 1 barrier and led for the first 100m before Brown sent Diego to the front after starting from barrier three. Minstrel began from barrier five and raced three wide in the first lap before racing in the breeze.
Diego dashed over the final 400m sections in 28sec. and 27.8sec. and rated 1.56.2 over the 2130m journey. His past eight starts have included other major feature events, the Group 1 WA Pacing Cup, the Group 2 Stratton Cup and the Group 3 Pinjarra Cup, and he now has earned $722,759 from 23 wins and 20 placings from 79 starts.
“I was coming out of the gate only as much as I had to in order to hold Minstrel at bay,” said Brown. “And Diego bounced out super. I got to the front a lot easier than I thought I would. He switched off and relaxed in front, which I was hoping he would. I didn’t want to rev him up too much, making sure he had something left in the tank at the end.
“I wanted to catch a break on Minstrel around the (home) bend, so that’s what I did, and Diego was going pretty easy on the line.”
Minstrel’s effort was full of merit, while other Nullarbor candidates Magnificent Storm ($11) and Lavra Joe ($31) performed strongly. Magnificent Storm started from the outside barrier (No. 9) and was restrained to the rear and was still last approaching the home turn before finishing powerfully. He was blocked for a clear run and finished a close-up seventh.
Lavra Joe raced three back on the pegs before getting into the clear 250m from home and finishing strongly, three wide, to be an excellent third.