Darren Weir.
DARREN Weir was still grinning yesterday after pulling off another hit-and-run mission on the Hobart Cup.
While basking in the success, the Ballarat trainer is already plotting a return trip to Tasmania in two weeks time.
Hurdy Gurdy Man secured a fast-finishing victory in the $225,000 group 3 feature on Sunday, securing Weir’s fourth Hobart Cup win in the past eight years and bringing about the culmination of a long-range plan to set the horse for the 2400m event.
“It has been his target since he first came back into work,” Weir said.
“It was good for it to come off because usually they don’t.”
Weir is now hoping to return for the Launceston Cup, 2400m, on February 27.
The leading Victorian trainer said the horse would be flown back to his Warrnambool stables, where he would spend time on the beach before a possible return trip to the Apple Isle in a fortnight.
Hurdy Gurdy Man, who was coming off a third in the Terang Cup, had carried 59kg at his past three starts but dropped to 54kg for the Cup, which jockey Glen Boss said was the telling factor.
“Against the local horses here with their records he was able to get in on the minimum, which essentially won him the race,” Boss said.
Boss, a triple Melbourne Cup-winning jockey, secured his first Hobart Cup aboard the horse.
Meanwhile, emerging Ballarat stayer Tuscan Fire has drawn gate 13 for tomorrow’s listed Mornington Cup, 2400m.
Boss will ride the Dan O’Sullivan-trained galloper, which will carry 56.5kg in the listed event.
Tuscan Fire remains on track for a tilt at the Adelaide Cup, 3200m, at Morphettville on March 11.
tim.oconnor@fairfaxmedia.com.au
