DARREN Weir says he is hopeful rather than confident of Streets Away securing him a second Ballarat Cup tomorrow.
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The Ballarat trainer, who won the race with Just The Part in 2004, believes weight is the biggest hurdle for the in-form galloper, who will have to lug 60kg throughout the 2200m event.
Streets Away will carry 1.5kg more than when he blitzed his rivals to win the Kyneton Cup earlier this month.
There, he beat Shenzhou Steeds (third), Doctor Fremantle (fourth), Almodovar (fifth) and Sister Norma (sixth), all of whom are running in the race tomorrow.
“It’s a worry I reckon,” Weir said of the weight allocation.
“I think it’s a better race that what he ran in at Kyneton and he’s got more weight.”
Steven Arnold will again take the ride on Streets Away and Weir said he would leave the tactics entirely up to the jockey.
“There’ll be no instructions. He rode last start and I’ll just leave it up to him.
“He won’t be going back anyway,” Weir said.
Streets Away has been a hit since joining Weir’s Warrnambool satellite stable earlier in the year.
After arriving from Alan Bailey’s yard in Queensland, the son of Street Cry has won three of his seven starts in Victoria.
He was a back-to-back winner at Moonee Valley and Caulfield and has placed in the listed Heatherlie Handicap and Cranbourne Cup.
“Alan recommended me to take him.
“He said he was a good horse and he’d suit Warrnambool,” Weir said.
“It’s been really good the Warrnambool stable.
“It suits a certain horse that can’t cope with the hustle and bustle of track work and training on tracks.”
Weir said tomorrow’s run would be the horse’s last this campaign, with a possible tilt at the Warrnambool Cup in mind for next year.
tim.oconnor@thecourier.com.au