Darren Weir has won a Melbourne Cup but loves nothing better than to target the three-day Warrnambool carnival.
He specifically aims a team of horses at the jumps races along with the major sprint, the Wangoom Handicap and the feature staying race, the Warrnambool Cup.
While he doesn’t have a runner in the Grand Annual Steeplechase, Weir will be aiming for a third-straight Warrnambool Cup on Thursday with a three-pronged attack on the 2350m-Listed race.
Akzar took the honours in 2014 with Tall Ships scoring impressively 12 months ago.
Master Zephyr, owned in the same interests as Tall Ships, is favourite to continue Weir’s Warrnambool Cup streak and comes into the race off a win in the Terang Cup.
While Weir questioned the class of the Terang Cup he was impressed with the way the stayer went about his work.
Like Master Zephyr, Tall Ships won the Terang Cup on his way to victory at Warrnambool last year.
“He looked more impressive in it than what Tall Ships was, but leading up to that race Tall Ships was going better than what Master Zephyr was,” Weir said.
“Master Zephyr’s very small but he got down and galloped well and I needed to see that as we had been mucking around with him.
“Terang and Warrnambool was always the go with him and he really let down well.”
Weir said there were similarities between the two OTI-owned stayers.
“The going won’t worry him but he’ll need to switch off,” Weir said.
“He’s a bit like Tall Ships in that he just over travels a bit.
“To be a good horse he needs to learn to switch off.
“They’re both small but they’ve got great actions, actions of big horses.”
Weir will also saddle up Master Of Arts who was scratched from Tuesday’s meeting because of a wide draw while Falago comes into contention on the heavy ground.
Master Zephyr has firmed from $3.70 to $3 since betting opened while Master Of Arts sits on the third line of betting at $7.50. Falago has attracted support from $11 to $9.50.
