Darren Weir. acing. The Season That Was. 336 Kennedys Rd Miners Rest, Vic 3352 Office: (03) Fax: (03)

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1 R Darren Weir acing 336 Kennedys Rd Miners Rest, Vic 3352 Office: (03) Fax: (03) Racing Manager Jeremy Rogers Assistant Racing Manager Simon McCartin Finance Michael Leonard Accounts Luke Archibald Registrations Katrina Wood OH&S Kevin Kane The Season That Was The 2014/2015 has come to a close and haven t we had an absolute cracking year. Last year we had a record breaking 253 winners, but this year we exceeded all expectations saddling up 298 winners. We were first past the post 197 times in the country, whilst in the metropolitan area of Victoria and South Australia we had 101 winners. Trust In A Gust recorded our first Group 1 win in Victoria in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes and added another Group 1victory at his next start in the Toorak Handicap whilst Lucky Hussler won the Group 1 William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley. Along with three Group 1 winners we had another 10 black type wins and 31 black type placings. Moonee Valley was our most favourable metropolitan track, whilst Warrnambool and Ballarat was where we had our most winners in the country. Brad Rawiller rode the most winners for the stable with 75 and if you are a punter no doubt you would say there should have been a few more. We also featured prominently over the jumps with 9 winners all ridden by Johnny Allen. Whilst these are amazing statistics we couldn t have achieved exceptional results without our wonderful staff and our supportive owners. We have had an outstanding year and hopefully this season will again be bigger and better. Warrnambool Correspondent Denita Bowman Darren Weir Racing

2 Aussie Aussie Aussie Honourable Aussie made it a day to remember when he won the Warracknabeal Cup and brought up the sixth winner for the day for the stable. Aussie, as he is known around the stables, was purchased from the Patinack Dispersal Sale on the Gold Coast in 2014 with the ambition of running him on the country cups circuit. Roll The Dice syndicated the 8 year old gelding and had some very happy owners after his easy win. Having his fourth start for the stable, Tommy Sadler dictated the race from start to finish. He slipped away by 3 lengths coming around the home turn, but Tommy had to earn his money in the straight as Aussie hung out making it difficult to ride him to the best of his ability. He was too good for his rivals though going onto win by 2 and a half lengths with stablemate Amaverde finishing in 3 rd. New Beginnings As many of you may be aware by now, our Warrnambool foreman Daniel Bowman will commence training full time in his own right from the 1 st of August. We would like to thank Daniel for his efforts over the past 3 and half years. With the knowledge and application he has demonstrated whilst working as our foreman, we believe he will be a welcome addition to Victoria s training ranks. Best of Luck Daniel. Jarrod McLean will be our new foreman and he comes to us with a wealth of experience in the industry. We wish him and our Warrnambool staff all the best and look forward to a smooth changeover. Training Fees We are undertaking our annual review of operating costs and the management of our training operation. The implications of this analysis will be detailed in our next newsletter, at which time we will also notify you of training fees for the period commencing on the 1 st of October Burning Rivals Burning Front has continued to go from strength to strength since joining the stable in December last year. The five year old chestnut gelding has now had 9 starts for the stable and hasn t missed a place. His most recent win was at Geelong when he stuck his head down at the right time, with that little white snip just getting the prize in the BM m Handicap. Brooke Taylor, who rides most of the work on Bernie and is clearly one of her favourites, was absolutely over the moon as were his owners and strapper Stevie Payne.

3 Just hitting his straps Refulgent had his first start this preparation on the 30 th of January at Moonee Valley where he finished third in the BM m Handicap. Since then he has had an astonishing 13 starts and finally hit top gear this preparation at run number 12 when he won the VOBIS Gold Heath over 2000m at Caulfield at the end of July. In this preparation alone he has finished in the top 4 eleven times and of these eleven placings he probably should have won a couple more after a few luckless runs. The Hard Spun entire is raced by Caye Duffy, Steven Fumberger and Forest Lodge and has taken his earnings to just shy of $500,000 in his 26 start career. Luck of The Draw Some things are just meant to be in racing and it was just one of those things when Starsi was balloted from a Geelong Maiden, due to too many acceptors in the race. The David Hopwood Handicap at Caulfield was the back-up option, where he proved too strong for his rivals over the 1400m journey. After flying the gates, Chris Parnham pushed forward to sit outside the leader Central Witness. He gave a strong kick at the top of the straight to go on and win by half a length to the fast finishing Mail It In. Starsi is a half-brother to stakes winner and previously trained Siwa Lady and is the fourth winner from the British mare Siwa. King of Casterton Johnny Allen is starting to become The King of Casterton, not just over the jumps but also on the flat. The Irish born jockey holds a dual license in Victoria and has been kicking goals left, right and centre over the last couple of months. He rode 4 winners at Casterton early in the month of July, with Archibar and Tequila At Midnight winning over the jumps and Matagami and Jonjonjonny winning on the flat. At the most recent Casterton meeting he added another 2 winners to his CV, Amaverde over the jumps and the Matthew Williams trained Hollow Log on the flat. Keep up the good work Johnny!!! July Winners Kasabe ~ Trente ~ Hayite ~ Manna Trust ~ Doctor Care (2) ~ Twin Tea Bags Archibar ~ Tequila At Midnite ~ Jonjonjonny ~ Matagami (2) ~ Richter s Gift ~ Falago Sir Laszlo ~ Honourable Aussie ~ Leica Day ~ Little Red Devil (2) ~ Fellspur Try Four (2) ~ Ma Jones ~ strong Hand (2) ~ Just Too Hard ~ Burning Front (2) Amaverde Reconstruct ~ Osteria ~ Stylish Miss ~ Conwell ~ Refulgent ~ Starsi Pantuo ~ Stellar collision ~ Biatreasure

4 2014/2015 Season Highlights AUGUST - After winning our first metro premiership last season, we set out to secure back to back premierships. Backbone was our first winner for the season at the first metro meeting at Moonee Valley. Later in the month Trust In A Gust returned with a win at Moonee Valley, with Count Encosta also winning on the same day. Stylish Miss was a dual winner with back to back wins at Murtoa and Mildura. SEPTEMBER September was the start of our successful Spring Carnival with Trust In A Gust securing our first Victorian Group 1 in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield. It was also a memorable day for jockey Damian Lane riding his first Group 1 winner. Evens, Lethal and Rock Speed brought up a treble at Donald, whilst we also had winning doubles at Casterton, Warracknabeal, Swan Hill and Mornington. Now And Zen and Trust In A Gust also had back to back wins in the month. OCTOBER October was the highlight of the year winning five black type races. Stratum Star (right) had two listed wins the first at Flemington in the Yellow Glen Vintage Stakes followed by the Crown Lager Stakes at Caulfield. Trust In A Gust became a dual Group 1 winner with a win in the Toorak Handicap at Caulfield with Brad Rawiller on board. Lucky Hussler recorded a win in the Group 3 Moonga Stakes and Prince of Penzance won the Group 2 Moonee Valley Cup. NOVEMBER The first day in November was probably one of the most nerve racking days at the races, with Signoff needing to win the Lexus Stakes to gain a start in the Melbourne Cup. With an outstanding ride by Joao Moreira he won by an impressive 2 and a half lengths and then ran an almighty 4 th in the race that stops the nation. Entire Zabisco (left) added value to his stud prospects with a win in the Group 3 Eclipse Stakes. Heza Bargain defied the odds and returned to the winners circle after having 3 years off, with what was determined to be a career ending injury. DECEMBER Hotel Sierra won a heat of the 955m Challenge, but again like Lets Rocknroll in November, she unfortunately couldn t hold onto the title for the fastest heat. Taiyoo started off his outstanding preparation with wins at Sandown and Flemington, whilst Gingerboy was a winner at Moonee Valley and Flemington. Of our 23 winners for December, twelve of these were on metropolitan tracks, which included winning doubles at Flemington and Moonee Valley. And not to forget Santa delivered 3 winners on Boxing Day with Leica Day and Host Me winning at Geelong and Tonopah winning at Sandown. Woody getting into the Christmas Spirit

5 JANUARY We started 2015 a little light on for winners, but the ball started rolling again mid-way through January with a treble at Flemington. Camarada, Montana Moon, Polizei and Rural Hunter were winners at Hamilton, whilst Rather Heroic and Rakti Roulette were winners at Cranbourne, bringing up 6 winners for the day. Taiyoo flew the flag for the stable at Sandown on Australia Day and it was his second win for the month. Zanteco and Priority Road (above) were also dual winners in January. FEBRUARY The winning streak continued for Taiyoo with threes win in February including the Listed Torney Night Cup at Moonee Valley and the Group 3 Lord Reims Stakes at Morphettville. We had our first winner at Gawler with Stratumsphere and Jake Toeroek in the saddle and Archie Salek showed everyone his best celebration when Your Divine Archie won at Ballarat. MARCH March was littered with winners all over the state with the most significant being the return of Lucky Hussler (right) in the Group 1 William Reid Stakes slashing his rivals. On the same night dual Group 1 winner Platelet returned with a win in the 955m Challenge. The new Pakenham track was opened on the 26 th and we made our presence felt with dominant wins from Amaverde and Whistle Stop. We also had four winners at Geelong and a treble at Ballarat and Mildura. APRIL - Olivier wasn t playing any April Fools tricks when he won at Sandown on the 1 st of April Easter Bunny was very kind delivering 4 winners at Stawell on Easter Sunday including the Stawell Cup with Tall Ship. He later went on to win the Terang Cup later in the month. Telopea won the Elmore Cup whilst Tooleybuc Kid brought home the first Cup at the new Pakenham track, making it 4 Country Cup victories for the month. MAY - Atlantis Dream delivered the boss a birthday present with a win in the Group 2 Queen of the South Stakes at Morphettville, whilst Master of Arts won on the same day at Caulfield. We had another successful Warrnambool Carnival with six winners over the 3 days. Tall Ship (left) made it back to back Warrnambool Cups for the stable, with Akzar taking out the Listed race last year. Now and Zen made a successful transition to jumping winning his Maiden Hurdle at the carnival and won another hurdle later in the month at Casterton. JUNE Owner Nancy Alexander had a big thrill over the June long weekend with both of her horses Amaverde and Topography winning at Edenhope. The Swan Hill Carnival was also another success and we were pleased to be able to get a few winners over the carnival. It was almost two years to the day since Ava s Delight won her last race, but she returned with an exciting win at Moonee Valley. You couldn t wipe the smile off Melville Charles face for quite a few days.

6 JULY It was an exciting day for Johnny Allen at Casterton riding 4 winners 2 over the jumps and 2 on the flat. Falago notched up his second win for the preparation with a win at Flemington on finals day in the VRC-CRV Cup Tour Trophy 2000m Handicap. This was then followed with a win by Sir Laszlo at Gawler on the same day. Honourable Aussie took out the Warracknabeal Cup, with Leica Day, Little Red Devil and Fellspur also winning at the meeting. Try Four and Strong Hand were also winners on the same day at Warrnambool. We had our most successful day on the metropolitan tracks later in the month with Starsi and Refulgent winning at Caulfield and Conwell, Try Four and Stylish Miss winning at Morphettville. Backbone Refulgent Scarlet Billows Count Encosta Signoff Platelet Let s Rocknroll Taiyoo Zanteco Prince of Penzance Gotta Take Care