In his first start for O'Brien since crossing from the Kris Lees stable, the five-year-old claimed his first victory since August 2018, whipping home to win the Group Two Caulfield Sprint.
Graff raced toward the back of the field and made his move late in the piece, sniping home and hitting the front with 50 m to go, yet still able to dash away and win by more than a length.
While it was the horse's first run with O'Brien as trainer, it was not the Kyabram lad's first involvement with Graff, having bred the horse before he was initially sold.
“I've followed him his whole career,” O'Brien said.
“I actually bred him. Antony Thompson and I bred him and sold him at the Magic Millions to Alan Bell.
“I've known him since he was a foal, so it's good to be back involved with him and it's good to bring him back to winning form.
“He's a horse that's always shown talent and raced at the top level throughout. Hopefully this can give him a real confidence boost and we can get him back to winning another good race, not that winning a Group Two on Caulfield Cup Day is not a good race anyway.”
Having won the Caulfield Sprint — the second Group win of his career — Graff will now head forward with a preparation that could end with a tilt at the Group One Darley Classic.
“We're heading to the Group Two race on Derby Day (the TAB Stakes) with him, so I'd say we'll still go that way and potentially back up (into the Group One Darley Classic).
“There's a lot of good sprints in the autumn if we can just keep him happy and bouncy, I'm sure he can get into another good race.”
● O'Brien's reigning Melbourne Cup champion Vow And Declare could not recreate last year's form in Saturday's Caulfield Cup.
The five-year-old gelding was sent out as a $41 shot and was never in the race, settling at the back of the field and failing to make an impact during the 2400 m Group One.
Jockey Damien Oliver said a change of tactics would be required should Vow And Declare push on to the Melbourne Cup.
“He's just not quickening now. He's very one-paced,” Oliver said.
“I think we have to ride him a bit more forward to see if he can keep grinding away that way, because he's just not showing any change of speed.”
● And Euroa's Lindsay Park stable might not have had a runner in the Caulfield Cup, but the training team of Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig still found a way to make an impact by pinching the first race of the day.
Four-year-old Power Scheme stormed home to win the ZircoDATA Handicap, with a lovely ride from jockey Mark Zahra having him slash from the back of the field down the Caulfield straight.
Hayes said the victory was huge for the team after some near-misses in recent weeks.
“It's a bit of a relief, the horse has been running really well, but unfortunately we've been running second quite a bit in the Group races,” he said.
“It's a credit to the team, it's been a bit frustrating, but it's really good to finally get a winner and I thought Mark rode him super today.
“I was a bit worried at the top of the straight, but Mark didn't panic, he rode for luck and we got luck at the right time.
“The horse ran fantastic, he's been working well coming into the race, so it's really good to see him win. I think he's in for a really nice prep.”
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