Champion trainer Darren Weir has topped the 350 mark for winners trained in a season, eclipsing his previous record.
Weir set a Commonwealth record in the 2015/16 season of 348 winners, with his last winner coming in July, the final month of the racing season.
The victory of Stylish Miss in a benchmark 78 race at Warrnambool on Thursday gave Weir the new record while Craven Image in the 2000m benchmark 64 race brought up No. 350.
“It’s done”, Weir said after the win of Stylish Miss.
“The number of winners is great, but the Group One winners is the one we’ve got a lot of satisfaction out of this season.
“We’ve had seven this season and we thought if we could train six it would be amazing which is one every two months.
“We just wanted to be competitive in the top-end Group races and we’re lucky enough now to have that better class horse that gives us that chance.
“Obviously Black Heart Bart has won most of them but the other horses have all gone well.”
Weir thanked his large team of staff for their support in bettering last season’s mark.
He said if he trained 365 winners, which equates to one winner every day of the year, he would be happy.
“You can’t do this without the support of all the team,” Weir said.
“They all work hard at home and hopefully they get as big a thrill out of it as I do.”
Weir also set a new training record at the Warrnambool three-day carnival preparing 14 winners including feature race wins with Ulmann, Renew and High Church.
Weir won a Mercedez-Benz in 2014 after Akzar, who won the Warrnambool Cup, was one of seven winners that year while last year he prepared eight winners over the three days.
“You set the jumpers for the carnival and also the Wangoom and the Cup while the rest of them that are fit and ready to go we see what races are there to put them in,” Weir said.
Weir won four races on the opening day, five on the second and five on the closing day.
Weir’s Warrnambool 2017 carnival winners:
Ancient King
Miss Benedetta
Tick Tick Bloom
Royal Ace
Kiwia
Kellstorm
Renew (Galleywood Hurdle)
The Passage
Ulmann (Wangoom Handicap)
Try Four
Stylish Miss
Craven Image
Nikitas
High Church (Warrnambool Cup)
