As the racing season gets down to the pointy end, Darren Weir will be calling on the younger members of his team as he chases the Commonwealth training record.
The Ballarat-based horseman, who also runs a satellite stable at the coastal Victorian town of Warrnambool, is listed on racing.com as the trainer of 404 horses.
The biggest group in his stable is the three-year-old team which totals 128, one more than the two-year-olds at 127.
He has 56 four-year-olds, 49 five-year-olds, 29 six-year-olds and 10 seven-year-olds.
Weir also has one eight-year-old and one nine-year-old listed and three named yearlings.
That number will grow before August 1 with the rest of the yearlings becoming the new season’s two-year-olds.
Weir’s 2015-16 season has produced 291 winners who have earned more than $19.4 million including Prince Of Penzance who claimed the biggest prize of all with his Melbourne Cup win.
With two months of the season still to run Weir is in sight of the Commonwealth training record of 334 set by John Hawkes in 2002-03.
In contrast, Chris Waller, second on the Australian trainers’ premiership with 237 winners, has amassed more than $27.4 million prize money helped by his 15 Group One winners compared to Weir’s six.
Waller also has a large string but is almost 100 horses shy of Weir’s numbers.
He already has eight named yearlings with his biggest numbers in the two-year-old ranks for a total 121.
He has 96 three-year-olds, 42 four-year-olds, 20 five-year-olds, 12 six-year-olds, seven aged seven and four eight-year-olds.
