October Newsletter, 2015 After running a luckless sixth in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, which was won by stablemate Stratum Star, Glen Boss and Lucky Hussler were out to prove a point. Although he was carrying the top weight of 58kg, he was meeting the field so much better in the weights than his previous start. He had no luck the other day and he is meeting them all better at weights and stepping up to the mile, said a bullish Boss prior to the race. With nothing but confidence for the horse, Boss was able to deliver the stable a second Group 1 Toorak Handicap, with Trust In A Gust winning the race last year. Boss settled Lucky Hussler just off midfield on the rails and at one stage he only had two horses behind him in the 17 horse field. At the 600m mark, he was able to get off the rail and get to the outside where he had a lap full of horse underneath him. Weir was full of praise for the horse after the exciting win, It was a great win and he got into a bit of a bustling duel on the corner too, so to the horse s credit he stuck it out great. Lucky Hussler will now be set for the Group 1 Emirates Stakes at the end of the Spring Carnival.
In 1994 a little bonnie mare by the name of Skewiff won the Jayco Stakes at Flemington, which is now named the Blazer Stakes and been elevated from Group 3 to Group 2 level. Skewiff was one of the first horses raced with the stable by Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock and since then, together they have formed a formidable connection including winning the same race 8 years later with La Passe. Originally the plan was to race La Passe at Caulfield a day earlier in a benchmark race, but after a discussion between the owner Darren Dance and Darren Weir it was decided they were going to have a throw at the stumps and try and gain some black type with her. Heading out at healthy price of $41 the instructions to Michelle were quite simple, Just give her an easy run throughout and hopefully you can run a place. So when she won by an easy length you could probably say it wasn t the result the bookies, trainer and owners were expecting and they were all quite happily shocked. From a centre gate, Michelle Payne was able to settle in behind the leaders in the perfect one out one back position. She angled out at the 400m mark and whilst it took her a bit to get going, she was able to reel in the leaders and win comfortably. Michelle tactically rides Flemington very well, plus she has produced some good results for us in the past on Platelet (Gr2 Gilgai, 2013) and Lonhspresso (Listed Straight Six, 2014), said Dance following the perfect ride. Out to show her critics that her Group 2 winning ride was no fluke, Michelle again provided a 10 out of 10 ride on La Passe to win the Group 2 Tristarc Stakes at her next start. Suggesting to add the blinkers following the Blazer Stakes, proved to be the right move as she showed a bit more zip when weaving through the field late to win by a nose to Solicit. Congratulations to her owners Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock, SCG Racing, Peacock Racing, The Crow Family, Barry Stokes, John Harris, Scott Davidson and Gavin Gereaux. La Passe s little brother by Toorak Toff was born on the 27 th of October. Mum, Pirouettes and her little man are doing great.
It was a busy weekend for the Dunn family, with Mays Dream running at Moonee Valley on Friday night and Rainbow Storm running at Murtoa on Saturday. Whilst May s Dream ran a gallant second, Rainbow Storm was out to bring home the bacon for the family. Having finished second to Bunchloch in the Murtoa Cup last year, he was out to go one step closer this year. Ridden by Dean Yendall it was husband and wife, Christine Puls, fighting it out over the final stages, with Dean timing his run to perfection to win by half a length and Christine in second placing on Peculatus. Rainbow Storm was able to find the pot of gold again, when he trounced his rivals to win the Hamilton Cup by 4 lengths. Luckily they had a chauffeur driver this time and were able to enjoy a few cold ones following the easy win. Rainbow Storm will continue to contest the Country Cups circuit, hopefully adding a few more Cups to the mantel piece. Rainbow Storm is raced by the Dunn Family along with James Macleod, Donna Jenkins, Marnie Duncan, Adrian Minogue, John Catalano, Peter Curran, Warren Shaw and Tony Moret. Having run second in the St.Arnaud Cup last year, Something To Share was out prove himself in 2015. Since beginning his career in April 2011, Something To Share has always showed good ability, but through injury and refusing to load in the barriers he is a lightly race 8 year old Country Reel gelding. You just never know what you are going to get with Ned, as he is known at the stables. In his 32 start career, he has proven to be quite a handful at the barriers and on numerous occasions he has been scratched and needed to trial to the satisfaction of stewards to be reinstated. As you can imagine this would be quite frustrating for his owners, but they have stuck by him and were rewarded with a Country Cup at St.Arnaud. With Caves dictating the race from the start, he had a handy six length on Ned coming to the home turn. With Johnny Allen urging him along in the home straight, he was able to reel him in in the last bound to win by a nose. Congratulations to his owners who include long-time stable owner Leo Harrington and best of luck as Ned now heads towards Leo s hometown cup of Ararat on the 8 th of November.
We re not usually a stable to push our horses, preferring to allow them time to grow and mature, but every now and then there is one that puts their hand up as an early contender. Our first two year old to take to the track this season was Dalradian and has provided early success winning his first two starts. With the 2yo Inglis Banner race on Cox Plate in mind for his first start, he didn t trial as well as expected in the lead up so plan B was put into action, giving him his first start at Bendigo. After winning by 2 lengths at Bendigo he then had to go home and show us he was ready to take the next step, 7 days later at Moonee Valley. You normally wouldn t back up a two year old like we did with him this week, but he s a tough little bugger, said Weir. A tough little bugger is exactly what he is as a gap opened at the top of the straight, he bullocked his way into the clear to win by a head to Valliano, with Pearl Congenial a further 1.25 lengths away in third. Dalradian was purchased for $55,000 at the Inglis Premier Sale in February and has now earned his connections over $185,000 with hopefully more to come in the Maribyrnong Plate run on the final day of the Flemington Carnival. Back in his hay day Larry Eastman was a pretty good foot runner in his home town of Yaapeet, which is not far from Weiry s home town of Berriwillock. Quite often he would travel around the countryside competing in local foot races including the Patchewollock Gift, which he won 5 times over 10 years. Larry is now a harness trainer/driver and along with his wife Lynette and friends, Neville and Wendy Dewhurst, they have raced quite a few handy trotters and gallopers together over the years. Dilinger Girl was one of the first Standardbreds Neville and Wendy bred and she was trained by Larry and Lynette to win 17 races in her four year career, which isn t a bad effort in the harness industry! Having given the breeding caper a go in the harness industry, Neville, Wendy, Larry and Lynette thought they would breed a galloper. Larry s next door neighbour, thoroughbred trainer Catherine Jordan, had a little mare, Northwood Lass, which had just recently retired, so together they purchased the mare and sent her to bread and butter stallion Dash For Cash. As a result of the perfect mateship, a colt was born and named after Larry s foot racing success at Patchewollock, Patche Gift. Just like Larry in his younger years, Patche Gift showed plenty of zip at his second start at Swan Hill when winning his Maiden by half a length. Still doing plenty wrong, he will take a lot of improvement out of the run and no doubt he will be back in the winner s circle again soon.
Three year old Flying Spur colt Mahuta has provided many first time owners with an experience they will never forget when winning the Listed Polytrack Gothic Stakes over 1400m on Caulfield Cup Day. Upon inspection of Mahuta at the Adelaide yearling sales, his body was exactly what you would want in a horse, but he had a bit of an ugly head so it was decided to give him a miss and go home. As we were leaving he was going through the ring and when we heard the price the auctioneer was offering him, we quickly ran back inside and were delighted to be the eventual winning bidders at $35,000. A bargain for a colt who was a half-brother to stable stakeswinner Anlon. Roll The Dice Syndications jumped at the opportunity to become involved and syndicated him out to a contingent of working class people which included our stable employee Nick Gottlewski. Nick was the strapper of Anlon when he was at the peak of his career and got such a buzz from strapping him that he wanted to experience the winning feeling from the other side of the fence, as an owner. A purchase which has proven to be quite fruitful for Nick and the other owners. After winning his Maiden by six lengths nine days earlier at Kyneton when the blinkers were applied, he was thrown in the deep end to take on some of the elite three year olds of the spring. Given a gun ride by Mark Zahra out in front he proved too slick for his rivals going on to win by a neck to the well fancied Godolphin runner Holler, with Flying Light a further three lengths away. It s not easy to go through your Maiden to winning this race. Not many go back to back so it was a good effort, Zahra said. And it s definitely not easy to go on and win your next start again, like Mahuta did in the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes at Flemington on Derby, making it three wins in October. With Mark Zahra on the sidelines through suspension, the reins were taken by Brad Rawiller to get the job done. With a fairly solid tempo set in the early stages of the races, Brad had to make an early move and to his credit, he toughed it out late to win by a head. The blinkers have definitely done the trick, as he has won every race since they were applied. We loved the twitter post from part-owner Shane Britter following Mahuta s Flemington win This is racing, win the first & last to leave If we thought they partied hard after his first and second wins, there is no doubt they would ve partied harder after his third win in a row. CONGRATULATIONS to our Ballarat foreperson Angela on winning two races this month. Military Shield at Stawell & Life s Drink at Hamilton. Outdoing the boss on both occasions Good work Ang!!!
October Winners Black Sheep ~ Burning Front ~ Rainbow Storm ~ La Passe (2) ~ Kiwi Kate ~ Solas Star Circle ~ Mahuta (3) ~ Social Media ~ Goornong Girl ~ Lucky Hussler ~ Kracken Lethal ~ Snow Grumpy ~ Palentino ~ Tilla Bell Rings ~ Silence A Crown ~ Tomoe Kiss In The Rain ~ Stratum Star ~ Dalradian (2) ~ Censorship ~ Broadway And First Patche Gift ~ Zanteca ~ Our Voodoo Prince ~ Lucky Paddy ~ Something To Share ~ Rainbow Storm ~ Leica Day 336 Kennedys Rd, Miners Rest, Vic 3352 PO Box 3, Miners Rest, Vic 3352 Office: (03) 5334 6655 Fax: (03) 5334 6408 Racing Manager Jeremy Rogers jeremy@darrenweirracing.com.au Finance Michael Leonard mick@darrenweirracing.com.au Owner Services Katrina Wood katrina@darrenweirracing.com.au Assistant Racing Manager Simon McCartin simon@darrenweirracing.com.au Accounts Luke Archibald luke@darrenweirracing.com.au OH&S Kevin Kane kevin@darrenweirracing.com.au Warrnambool Owner Services Denita Bowman denita@darrenweiracing.com.au Darren Weir Racing @dkweirracing