Leading trainer Darren Weir had mixed feelings after Humidor won the Blamey Stakes at Flemington.
While delighted with victory at Group Two level, he was perplexed with the flop of $2.40 favourite Tosen Stardom in the 1600m race.
“It’s great for the connections of the winner but not so good for the connections of the other horse because he ran well below par,” Weir said.
Ridden by Mark Zahra, Humidor ($3) defeated Cool Chap ($18) by a half-length with Hellova Street, backed from $6.50 to $4.40, three-quarters-of-a-length away third.
Tosen Stardom ran last of the five runners, 5-1/2 lengths behind the second last horse Odeon.
Humidor’s defeat of the Lindsay Park-trained Cool Chap was welcome relief for Weir after finishing runner-up to that stable in the Australian Cup, Newmarket Handicap and Adelaide Cup last weekend.
Weir said Humidor would now head to The Doncaster at Randwick on April 7 and back up in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) a week later.
It was the same path Tosen Stardom was following although those plans are now up in the air.
“Humidor’s had a great prep towards that and ideally I didn’t want to see him lay in late as he can be tricky like that,” Weir said.
“It looks like he’s on track but I’m not sure about the other one now.
“He’s a great galloper, but he didn’t go well today.”
Zahra said the slow early pace wasn’t ideal for Humidor, but he was happy to be following the stablemate.
He expected Tosen Stardom to take him further into the race and then peel out late.
“I could see Brad (Rawiller) feeling for him before the bend,” Zahra said.
“So I had to get going earlier than I wanted.
“He was out on his feet late and wanted to crash into them.
“I didn’t ride him out as I was pulling him off the other horses and he was too good in the end.”
Rawiller said Tosen Stardom felt scratchy on pulling up but trotting back along the race to the mounting yard felt fine.
“That’s when they usually feel it,” Rawiller said.
“Basically he was OK but I’m thinking something will come up in the next 24 hours as you don’t run that poorly when you’re a horse like him.”
