Have you ever wondered how Darren chooses the horses he buys at auction amongst the many hundred that are entered? Matt Scown has been a part of Darren s bloodstock team for just under a year now and he shares his insights on the selection process involved during the recent Magic Millions sale on the Gold Coast. The horses entered for auction usually arrive at the sale complex a week before the sale is due to commence. This provides an opportunity for Darren s bloodstock team including his agent John Foote to inspect every horse entered for sale. A typical day commences at around 8am and every horse catalogued for sale is individually inspected. John and members of Darren s team compile a short list, which may consist of about 160 horses. They then compare and contrast notes to cull this list even further to around 80 horses. These selected horses will be further inspected by John and the team to shortlist it even further. Horses may be removed if it s suspected the price will be too high, or if they are not quite as favourable as other yearlings. Once this process is all complete, John and Darren will inspect and discuss the final 20 to 30 horses that have made the short list. They look at the horses with a much more critical eye, they ll rate how it walks, its attitude whilst parading, and assess its pedigree to decide which ones they will target to buy. Once a decision is made in regards to which horse/s to bid on, John organises a veterinary inspection to include a scope and an x-ray exam of the horse, to help ensure there are no unfavourable defects. Darren and John then head to the parade ring to start their bids, where they have already decided on a maximum price for each individual horse they will bid on. It s a big process which is repeated each day of every sale. They can be long and busy days, but Darren, John Foote and the team are confident in their systems in place, and it s certainly worth it when they hold the winning bid on a lovely horse. INSIDE JANUARY ISSUE 1 A day at the sales with Darren Weir 2 Deadly, From Jumping Hurdles to Chasing Cattle 3 200 th win for the season! 4 Avanti Rose 5 January Sales off with a BANG! 6 Owner Profile Manfred Krauser 7 January Winners 8 Financial Matters
Thoroughbreds are the breed that can do it all, from showing to cattle work, racing to trail riding they really are the most versatile breed. Deadly was retired from racing and re homed back in March 2017. I am absolutely over the moon with how my lovely big OTT gelding performed over the weekend of moving my cattle to the High Plains. He was a dream and coped with deep water crossings, cracking whips, dogs barking, cattle and vehicles. I can t begin to thank Lee Purchase enough for her honesty and assistance in finding me one of the best horses I have ever owned. After a long racing/hurdling career he has taken to his new role like a duck to water and is an absolute joy to have around and ride! On January 26 th Eyes Are Blue, our sole runner at the Mornington day meeting on Australia Day, showed superior staying ability to run his rivals ragged to win the Benchmark 58 Handicap over 2460m. The significance of this win was when crossing the line first, Eyes Are Blue became the 200 th winner for the stable so far this season. With another 6 months of the season remaining, Darren is on target to yet again give his current national winning record of 449 a firm nudge. By the time the fireworks were exploding over the skies at the end of Australia Day, another 4 winners had already been added to the tally after Native Soldier, Prevailing Winds, Bondeiger, and Knight Commander all got the job done at the night races at Moonee Valley. Big thank you to all our staff and, of course, our lovely owners for your continuous support. We re very much looking forward to seeing what more season 2017/2018 has in store for Darren Weir Racing! Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and for our latest news and updates
Sales photo from 2016 Avanti Rose was a $20,000 purchase at the 2016 Magic Millions Adelaide sale and has won 3 of her 7 starts including $62,230 in prizemoney and $15,650 in bonuses John Foote s comments on her were "The Ambidexter filly was not dissimilar in looks to that of a typical Commands, the sire of Ambidexter and a very good sire. Nice brown filly, correct and has quite a good pedigree on the dam side, especially as she was in the back end of the sale." Some things we spoke about when selling her were: The broodmare sire Charge Forward is known for precocious 2YO s, as well as himself This filly s grand dam has an impeccable record at stud, all of her eleven progeny are winners with 7/10 have won more than five times! Yarra Valley January 9 th 2018
Manfred Krauser is a loyal owner who has been part of the racing game for 45 years. His parents immigrated from Austria when he was a young boy, and Australia has been home ever since. He owns a company manufacturing aluminium windows for prestigious homes. Manfred developed a love for the racing game after he had his very first bet, which happened to be on Macdougal in the 1959 Melbourne Cup which duly won. Manfred has owned about 74 horses over the years, and he spreads his current horse interests amongst various trainers. His first horse with Darren Weir was a horse called Clevadude about 4 years ago. Clevadude may not have set the track alight but since then he s had shares in Group 1 winners Stratum Star and Humidor, and he currently has the promising 2YO Native Soldier donning his royal blue and yellow colours. He also has shares in many other horses both young and old, but one he s particularly excited about at the moment is Wild Max, a 3YO colt in training with Andreas Wöhler in Germany who will hopefully measure up to some blue ribband events. Keep an eye on our twitter page and website for more purchases. Manfred states I stay with Darren because he s a really nice guy. You can always talk to him and he is honest, helpful and approachable. He also has fantastic staff working for him, all very accommodating and approachable. Special mention to Jarrod Mclean and his team at Warrnambool.
JANUARY WINNERS Civil Disobedience Parthesia Swiss Beauty Freehearted Eyes Are Blue (2) Black Mosheen Kings Will Dream (2) Imperial Edition So You Leica Star Stealer Avanti Rose Sohool (2) Knight Commander (2) Seento Won Ball Wolfendale (2) Skilled Hunter Zartini Kathy s Spirit Foxlago Burning Front Ken s Dream Twitchy Frank Bellaria Above Authority Pleasuring Avanti Rose Last Week Foxanne Divine Command Lara s Web Euroman Bondeiger Prevailing Winds Native Soldier Andrea Mantegna Night s Watch Holy Seal Branksome Chines Holy Blade Hermanito Won Ball Hot Witness Leicester Contact us Phone: (03) 5334 9888 Fax: (03) 5334 6408 Postal Address: PO Box 3, Miners Rest, Vic 3352 Address: 366 Kennedys Road, Miners Rest, Vic 3352 Racing Manager jeremy@darrenweirracing.com.au Assistant Racing Manager simon@darrenweirracing.com.au Finance mick@darrenweirracing.com.au Accounts luke@ darrenweirracing.com.au Accounts Payable sue@darrenweirracing.com.au Administration/Receivable gabby@darrenweirracing.com.au Owners Services monique@darrenweirracing.com.au dwinter@darrenweirracing.com.au steph@darrenweirracing.com.au oprah@darrenweirracing.com.au Racing Services sam@darrenweirracing.com.au!!! FINANCIAL MATTERS We again remind all owners of the need to supply sufficient detail on EFT remittances to enable us to identify whom the payment is from. Your account number (shown on invoices) is the preferred reference, but you may also use the name exactly as it appears on your account. We also remind you of our strict policy that we will not accept any horse to race where an overdue debt is outstanding on any account associated with that horse. Please ensure your accounts are settled within our trading terms. DEBT COLLECTION Once again we thank all our clients who settle their accounts promptly. In fairness to owners (and to ensure our cash flow is managed so as to enable us to pay our suppliers on time), we will enforce our expectation for full and prompt settlement of our accounts. This includes referring overdue accounts for external collection. We are sure you all appreciate the need for our collection policy to be conducted as professionally as possible. Also, as noted above, no horse will be allowed to race where there is an overdue account owing on that horse. In these circumstances, our training terms and conditions authorise us to notify other owners of that horse the reason why the horse is not running.!!! Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and for our latest news and updates