Plein Ciel a horse on the rise after dominant Sandown win
PLEIN Ciel put itself back into contention as one of Darren Weir’s most impressive thoroughbreds when winning at Sandown on Saturday.
The European import sat midfield off a slow tempo up front, but it was still able to stretch the neck out impressively in the straight and quickly sprint past its opposition in the Now You’re In The Game Handicap.
The German-bred four-year-old has now won five from eight starts and its ability to rebound after finishing third on a heavy track last start was noteworthy.
Apprentice jockey Ben Allen was struggling to keep Plein Ciel calm throughout the run as the pace slackened up front, but coming into the straight it was clear the son of Mamool had the class edge over the field, which didn’t contain much quality opposition.
“We got into a good spot, but he never really switched off,” Allen said. “Going to the barriers I had to get him worked up to get him in – that’s fired him up a little bit in the run, but he was still too good for them.”
It carried only 52.5kg with the claim from Allen, and having carried 58kg to victory twice last campaign, it was always going to be tough for the opposition to beat the $2.10 favourite at Ladbrokes.
“This is the first time he’s had no weight on his back,” Allen said. “It shows he’s a quality horse and he’s getting better every time.
“He’s a bit of a show horse, you can tell he loves himself the way he gets around the mounting yard.
“He’s pulled up a treat.”
That was Darren Weir’s 115th Melbourne metropolitan win for the season- equalling the record set by Lee Freedman, and it came with a potential top liner.
“He still didn’t parade great, but he paraded a lot better than what he did at Warrnambool,” Weir said.
“He didn’t (settle in the run), he wouldn’t have liked being cluttered, but he’s a funny horse like that and I’m sure if that horse wasn’t on the outside he would have settled better.”
The instruction for jockey Ben Allen was to give it clear running room so the talented four-year-old could show its superior turn-of-foot.
“Ben rode him great,” Weir said. “I said to ride him where he’s comfortable and get him to the outside, give him galloping room late and he let go good with plenty of upside to come.”
There were suggestions that Plein Ciel could be a future cups horse, but despite wanting that to happen, Weir will stick with the shorter staying distances for the meantime.
“His pedigree suggests that (it will stay), I’m thinking 2000m at this stage, not sure about anything further, but I certainly hope he does,” Weir said.
“We’ll get him out to 2000m this time and work of work it out from there.
“He’s a really nice horse going forward.”