ANOTHER STELLAR SEASON FOR DARREN WEIR

By Matt Nicholls

01/08/2012

melbourneracing@gmail.com

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HOW do you manage to win more than $3.8 million in prizemoney in a season without training a Group 1 winner?

Darren Weir puts it down to hard work.

Regarded as the “man who never sleeps” in Victorian racing, Weir has ended another stellar season as one of the leading trainers in Victoria.

His 174 winners in the 2011-12 season ranked him up there with the best.

In fact, he was only behind Peter Moody and Peter Snowden on the national premiership.

So if he’s not producing Group 1 winners, what makes Darren Weir so successful?

To put it simply, he’s the king of the country.

There aren’t many racetracks in Victoria that Darren Weir won’t visit.

Whether it’s Flemington on Melbourne Cup day or the non-TAB meeting at Penshurst on Boxing Day, you can bet Weir will have a runner there if he’s got a horse suitable.

Suitable is a key word, too.

It’s rare that Weir’s horses “need a run”.

Although “DK” has plenty of starters, you don't see too many of them finish far from the front.

In Victoria this season, Weir had 989 starters and 532 made it into the TAB’s exotics.

So if you are a punter who likes to bet on a first-four, make sure you don’t leave out a Darren Weir-trained horse, because he gets them to run in the top four more than 50 per cent of the time.

Speaking to Melbourne Racing yesterday, Weir said he was driven by the fact he can continue to train more winners.

“I don’t set any numbers for goals, I just want to keep training more winners,” he said.

“I’d like be training more Group horses, but I just try and get the best out of what I’ve got.”

Amazingly, Weir has been one of the leading trainers in Victoria for the past 10 years and still only has one Group 1 win to his name.

That Group 1 win came in 2002, when She’s Archie won the South Australian Oaks (2500m) at Morphettville.

The mare went on to run second in the Geelong Cup and then followed it up a couple of weeks later with another second, this time behind Makybe Diva in the 2003 Melbourne Cup at $41.

She’s Archie looked like a top staying prospect when she returned the following spring to win the Group 3 Hayman Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley, before running second to Elvstroem in the Group 1 Underwood (1800m) at Caulfield.

But in her second Melbourne Cup, She’s Archie broke down and finished last.

She was never sighted on the racetrack again.

Despite the fact Weir only has one Group 1 win to his name, he has still managed to crack the $1 million mark as a trainer for nine straight seasons.

The 2011-12 season was by far his most profitable.

With a winning strike rate of 15.3 per cent, Weir’s runners returned $3,883,453.

Not bad going for a king of the country.

Weir says there was no doubt this season was his best, but was confident bigger and better things were still on the horizon.

“We probably don’t have anything this year for the big Group races in Melbourne, but you are surprised all the time in this caper,” Weir said.

“Wealth Princess has just come back into work after her Queensland campaign and she should measure up OK in the sprint races in spring.

“By the time the Stradbroke came around she’d had enough, but she’s got a lot of ability.

“We’ll just keep working away here and the results will come.”