All the action from the 2025 Devonport Cup: Photo gallery, race results
The Devonport Cup has been run and won with a huge day of action. Catch up on all the big moments from throughout the day including our photo gallery.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It has been a thrilling day of racing at the Devonport Cup.
Check out all the action.
A FINISH FOR THE AGES
Craig Newitt is determined to building on his Devonport Cup legacy after securing back-to-back wins aboard Ashy Boy on Wednesday.
It was the ninth win in the race for the man they call ‘Froggy’ who dedicated yet another successful day his father, Guy, who was killed in a car accident on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula in March 2009.
Newitt timed his run aboard six-year-old Ashy Boy ($8.50) to perfection as the field split in the home straight to pip Kaliuwaa Falls in a photo finish — one of the great race finishes in recent memory.
“Hopefully it’s a record I can keep building on,” Newitt said of nine Cup wins.
“Hopefully it will stand for the test of time. But as always, once the number goes in the frame, the first bloke I think of is the old man.
“He got into a good rhythm and travelled really well.
“I knew the leader would open up a fair way out and my bloke got to his top a fair way out.”
The win was a second straight for Wesley Vale trainer Glenn Stevenson who claimed his maiden Devonport Cup last year.
He described Newitt as “unbelievable” post-race, revealing there were some concerns about Ashy Boy heading into the race.
“It was concerning about 10-12 days ago, the riders said he was a bit flat,” he said.
“That was his second run after his first was so good (Ashy Boy raced twice in December after a spell).
“You put so many hours to putting this done but two years in a row is fantastic.”
In the main sprint race of the day, the $109,000 Carpet Charge, local star jockey Craig Newitt lauded Spreyton trainer Barry Campbell’s Durazzo as “right off the top shelf” after he climbed off the canvas to win.
Looking for his sixth win in eight career starts, Durazzo was smashed by punters into a short-priced $2.10 favourite.
After struggling to keep up with the early pace, the four-year-old gelding showed his class to win narrowly from second favourite Beast Mode.
Run over 1009m, those extra nine metres proved pivotal as Newitt found an ally down the inside to win his third of four races for the day.
“I rode him early doors in his first ever race start and he was nowhere near the complete racehorse,” Newitt said.
“He showed good ability but the horse I got on today, for Tasmanian standard he’s straight off the top shelf. He’s as good as you get here.
“He’s not a 1000m horse, he got run off his legs and started to climb in his action from the 600 to 400. But once he balanced up he finished off like a really good horse.
“The margin was small, he felt like he was going to run him down but it took him every inch of the 1009 metres to get there. That’s what good horses do.”
Campbell thought Durazzo was no hope when well back entering the straight.
“I thought he was a million to one on the turn but good horses do that,” he said.
“It was only the beginning of this prep he won a Class One. To go to a Carpet Charge (win) in three months is unbelievable, he’s a great little horse.”
Devon Netball Association won $10,000 as part of the Ladbroke Community Sports Series, where local clubs draw one of the 12 runners in the race.
A HUGE DAY ON AND OFF THE TRACK
Big numbers filed through the gates, but it was a five-month-old bundle of joy who stole the show at the Devonport Cup on Wednesday.
Northdown’s Cameron Brooke decided on a whim to enter the Best Dressed Couples section of Fashions on the Field with baby daughter, Cleo.
Brooke and his sunglass-donning firstborn won a highly commended award, with Anthony Crowden and Jess Campbell taking out the main gong.
“In years to come she can reflect on something she (Cleo) did with her dad,” Mr Brooke said.
“I haven’t entered (Fashions on the Field) since I was maybe 18 or 19. We thought let’s do it, let’s have some fun.”
Mainlanders swept the pool in the women’s contemporary and male categories, with Hawkesbury’s Cindy Fullerton defending her crown of last year and Adelaide’s Terry Hocking winning the men.
“My parents live at Latrobe and my dad (Bruce Fullerton) was chairman of stewards for about ten years with TasRacing. It’s good to go to the races with mum and dad because I don’t see them that often,” Fullerton said.
“I decided to go with this outfit wholly and solely because it’s the only headpiece I could travel with. All the other hats I have back home are too big.
“I’d be more at home in a pair of trackie pants and t-shirt, but I enjoy dressing up and getting here.”
Hocking added to wins he’s claimed in the past at Oakdale and Balaklava in South Australia, as well as Cairns.
Crowden and Campbell are getting married at Launceston in March, and celebrated their upcoming nuptials with the Best Dressed Couple win.
Both were dressed in pink and white.
“It’s a very fun colour for the cup and nice and bright and summery, pink stands out. We enter it most years, it’s a good event,” Ms Campell said.
Devonport Racing Club administration officer Nyree Webb said attendance numbers increased from 3500 last year to around 4000, with perfect weather for their biggest day of the year.
“We were hoping with good weather to get 4000, we already had good uptake without marquees and people coming through the gate is up,” she said.
“Last year wasn’t too bad considering the year before was quite down on numbers due to COVID.
“Even the year before where we had 3000 people (originally coming), which went down to 1500 (once COVID restrictions were in place).
“I think people are starting to get back into the habit of getting out and about, and I think this is the best social cup getting around.”
PHOTO GALLERY
RACING OFF TO A STRONG START
It’s been a positive start to racing at Devonport with four races already completed.
Here’s a look at the results so far.
Race 1: 1. Gethca Groove on, 2. Ellisphere, 3. Alpine Dame
Race 2: 1. I’m Chev, 2. Kagiso, 3. Kissed by Mist
Race 3: 1. Sky Land, 2. Baybougg, 3. Our Indulgence
Race 4: 1. Gee Gee Can Win, 2. Ring of Honour, 3. Cornelian Bay
RACE PREVIEW
Seven Mile Beach-based trainer Imogen Miller is happy with her six-year-old gelding Kaliuwaa Falls heading into Wednesday’s $125,000 Devonport Cup.
Miller mapped her Devonport Cup plan for Kaliuwaa Falls after he won a $45,000 Open Handicap over the cup distance of 1880m in Devonport in September.
That effort was his first start on a synthetic track and his only start further than 1650m.
“The Devonport Cup became his target when he won an Open Handicap up there in September, and he had a good preparation leading up to the race. We are really happy with where he is,” said Miller.
Kaliuwaa Falls has had three runs back from a spell, all at Weight For Age level in the Newmarket and Conquering in Launceston before his most recent start in the Tasmanian Stakes in Hobart. He finished mid-field on all three occasions.
“He has been racing really well. He was fantastic in the Newmarket. He was a little bit plain in the Conquering, but last start I thought he was good against the pattern in Hobart,” Miller said.
“We elected not to take him to Devonport for the traditional lead-ups (the Golden Mile and Sheffield Cup), knowing that he did handle the track.”
Bulent Muhcu has been in the saddle for the gelding’s last two starts and has been booked for the Devonport Cup ride, in what the trainer believes is an open race.
“It’s a competitive race, but I don’t think there are any real standouts. There are some decent experienced horses in it, and Cartoon Graveyard looks the one on the way up,” she said.
“There should be genuine speed in it, and it should map nicely for us. We have drawn a little bit awkward (in barrier 10), but I’m not too worried about that, I would probably rather draw there than in one.”
The other highlight on Devonport’s nine-race card is the $109,000 Carpet Charge (1009m), in which Miller has two runners engaged, And Beyond and Algernon.
And Beyond joined Miller’s stable in July and has had two starts, with a close-up fifth in the Newmarket before finishing just under a half-length from The Inevitable in the Conquering.
“He has been super. Obviously, he is an older horse and appreciates the change of scenery. I wouldn’t say he is at his best form, but he is somewhere near it.
“It is a very competitive race, and he would want to be on his A game.
“Algernon was disappointing first up in Hobart, and we thought we would give him one more chance. He would be good enough at his best, but it has been a while since we have seen that.
The Carpet Charge sees the highly promising Durrazzo, the winner of five of seven starts, drawn barrier two for rider Craig Newitt. Victorian trainers Ben, Will, and JD Hayes are sending Beast Mode, a Caulfield winner four starts ago, down for the race.
Duncan Dornauf is also a race caller for Sky Racing.
How National Country Champs are shaped heading into the final day
Thursday marked the penultimate day of the Australian Country Cricket Championships. We assess the state of play and reveal the top performers.
Why Hurricanes international player curse could be over
After the departure of two internationals, Hobart Hurricanes coach Jeff Vaughan believes a poor run of imports could be over. He gives an insight into the “options” to replace them.