Darren Weir, the bushie from Victoria challenging the Chris Waller phenomenon, promises to continue the trend in the group 1 Goodwood at Morphettville on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Adelaide is a happy hunting ground for Weir but his range has extended to Brisbane, where his recently acquired Rageese in the group 3 Best Classic is a major hurdle for Wallerism.
The New Zealander has Counterattack, from a wide gate under James McDonald, with top credentials and Sir Bacchus, highly promising with Hugh Bowman on board, to milk the talent.
As the reliable Brad Rawiller is handling Black Heart Bart in the Goodwood, Weir will rely on Kerrin McEvoy for Rageese, a colt the Wangoom trainer took over from the Hawkes team.
If I had the choice of getting a horse off any stable in the hope of instigating improvement the last would be from the Hawkes'. Certainly Rageese showed promise for them and even champions can lose a major asset. Better Loosen Up went from Bart Cummings to Colin Hayes to become great. But Weir has a knack with horses tried elsewhere.
While Rageese carried "another league" comment from Best Bets winning in Listed company at Morphettville last start I'm with Waller in the Best.
Counterattack is primed and, in my opinion, would have beaten stablemate Japonisme (third) in last Saturday's group 1 BTC Cup but he was withdrawn, with possibly the barrier (11) being a contributing factor.
On Saturday Counterattack has to overcome 15, under normal circumstances for McDonald just an odds enhancer, but Supermac has been like Greg Inglis a few weeks back, short of his best.
Maybe Rageese is out to fulfil potential, but the Weir influence will really boom if Sooboog, another previously trained by the Hawkes', wins in the Goodwood.
Being a group 1 the whips are expected to be out in force, a point that continued with the recent success of Chautauqua, tuned perfectly by the Hawkes combine, in Hong Kong, prompting the message of the week sent to Winning Post by Donald Gaskins, of Kirribilli.
"Perhaps Ray (Murrihy) should get a replay of Chautauqua's Hong Kong win. Tommy Berry hit him an awful lot (illegal here) and contrary to the beliefs of the pretend do-gooders that do zero for racing but who racing authorities are desperate to please, Chautauqua was running for the whip," he wrote.
Chautauqua (third) was beaten in the Newmarket at Flemington by Black Heart Bart (second) who looks the pea in the Goodwood. Apart from the Newmarket Black Heart Bart was outstanding in the weight for age All Aged Stakes under 59kg at Randwick on April 19 and is placed to advantage with two kilos less.
Weir took the South Australian Derby at Morphettville last Saturday with Howard Be Thy Name and notched Doomben's JRA Cup with Real Love, another he gained from West Australia.
After Wednesday Weir led the National Trainer's Premiership on 275 winners from 1749 starters while Waller has only 1480 for 220, but the leading Sydney trainer has 138 in town compared to Weir's 86 in Melbourne.
Weir became the first Victorian to win the premiership since Geoff Murphy in 1976-77 with interstate invaders, the Hayes family Colin, David and Peter (South Australia), Lee Freedman (New South Wales), Peter Moody (Queensland), and Tony McEvoy (South Australia) being on top. Prior to Murphy, Bart Cummings (South Australia) and Angus Armanasco (West Australia) dominated for nine years.
Before Waller Sydney has been a harder for invaders, but Weir supporters could point out there is a strong Waller presence in Melbourne where he has prepared 34 winners this season.
The Weir magic wand with recycled horses will be put to the test with Rugged Cross in the Better Loosen Up Handicap at Flemington on Saturday.
Rugged Cross failed miserably at his first start after a spell for the Victorian but had a reputation of improving sharply second-up for previous trainer – Waller.
