Darren Weir has big plans for Tall Ship after the imported stayer’s win in the Warrnambool Cup.
Tall Ship carried the colours of OTI Racing, a syndicate which has targeted the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups with overseas horses.
Tall Ship
While Weir said Tall Ship still had a long way to go before making it as a Caulfield and Melbourne Cup contender, the stayer was lightly raced and improving.
Ridden by Brad Rawiller and sent out favourite, Tall Ship ($3.30) scored a 3-3/4 length victory from Arch Fire ($11) with Lucciola ($7.50) a short half-head away third.
After being comfortably beaten on his Australian debut at Sandown in early March, Tall Ship has recorded victories at his last four starts, including his last three in Cup races.
“He’s had a great campaign,” Weir said.
“There’s been no pressure from the owners and they just said to place him in the races you think best suit him and bring him on.
“He had good form when he came to us with good potential.
“He ran well at his first start at Sandown, then he took a massive step to win at Geelong and has taken little steps since before taking another step today.”
Tall Ship has been based at Weir’s Warrnambool stable and Rawiller said it had been a great training effort to get a winning result in one of Victoria’s biggest country Cups.
“This horse has a lot of upside and can only continue to improve,” Rawiller said.
