Weir gets four on day one at Warrnambool
Champion trainer Darren Weir has equalled his record of four winners on the opening day of the Warrnambool carnival.
Weir trained four winners in 2016 and again in 2017 and had to wait until the last race on Tuesday to land his quartet.
In previous years his opening day winners have come from a mixture of flat and jumps races, but on Tuesday all four were on the flat and all were sent out favourites.
He started with Night Falls ($1.75) and followed up with Big Hammer ($3.60), Tradesman ($1.85) and Jaws Of Steel ($2.60).
“I’m real happy with four,” Weir said.
“A lot of hard work goes into getting here.
“The team out the back are all working hard and I’m here talking to you.
“The jumpers didn’t get the start that we wanted but we finished well.”
Last year Weir set a training record at the three-day carnival when he had 14 winners from the 30 races run.
Weir has 23 runners spread across nine of the 10 races on Wednesday and 24 runners in the 10 races on Thursday.
A decision on whether Now And Zen, his lone runner in the Grand Annual Steeplechase on Thursday, will be made after Jarrod McLean, in charge of Weir’s Warrnambool stable, makes a trip to the beach on Wednesday morning.
Now And Zen lost his rider John Allen at the first jump in Tuesday’s Brierly Steeplechase.
“Jarrod will meet the owners at the beach in the morning,” Weir said.
“He’ll have a trot and canter and the owners will make that decision.”
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