Weir deflects any talk of record year
Darren Weir says he is not superstitious.
But at the same time Australia’s leading trainer is quick to deflect any talk of creating new training records this season.
Weir has trained 274 winners winners Australia wide including Howard Be Thy Name in Saturday’s South Australian Derby, and leads Chris Waller by 54.
The first task ahead for Weir is cracking the 300 mark for the first time after falling agonisingly short last year.
The Commonwealth record is 334, set by John Hawkes in 2002/03 but Weir said his focus is doing the best he can to train as many winners as he can for his expanding group of owners.
“I haven’t looked at any numbers. We run where we can give the horses their best chances,” Weir said.
“I just hope things keep going the way they are going at the moment.
“You can go through your rough trots, like every trainer does, ups and downs, but you’ve just got to get through it and keep things ticking along.”
Weir saddled big numbers during the early part of May thanks mainly to the Warrnambool three-day carnival at which he has always been a big player.
With yearlings bought at different sales around the country and in New Zealand being put through their paces, space is tight at his Ballarat stables and his seaside base at Warrnambool.
“The young horses are starting to come in now which steadies things up a bit,” Weir said.
“The yearlings have been broken in. They’ve been out for a month and now they’ll come in for a little prep.
“I’ve still got plenty of numbers. We’ve got plenty of young horses at Ballarat and lots of horses at Warrnambool.
“There’ll still be plenty of runners but not as many as the past couple of weeks.”