Darren Weir’s rekindled galloper Akzar is headed to the spelling paddock, following his disappointing effort in (Saturday)’s Group 2 Eagle Farm Cup (2200m).
The former Lloyd Williams-owned galloper has been a revelation since joining the Weir stables in December of last year, recording four wins and two placings from his eight starts for the Ballarat-based horseman, including a dashing last-to-first win in the $200,000 Listed Warrnambool Cup (2350m) in May.
The seven-year-old son of Selkirk was sent out a $2.80 favourite for (Saturday)’s $250,000 feature, but was left flat footed when push came to shove; with the Chris Waller-trained Moriarty ($4.40) registering an impressive 1.3L win from Victorian pair Mr O’Cieren ($5) and Floria ($13). Akzar finished 2.6L away in fifth.
Weir confirmed on RSN’s Correct Weight (Sunday) morning that his gifted stayer would head straight to the paddock for a spell following his below-par performance.
“He was very one paced,” Weir said.
“It’s hard to set horses for every race, but he was set for Warrnambool and then he went so well there that Brisbane was another option.
“It didn’t work out as we’d hoped. He didn’t run badly, he was just pretty one paced. He’s on a truck home on Monday.”
Weir’s presence at the Brisbane Winter Carnival will continue in Akzar’s absence, with last-start Flemington winner Lonhspresso set to contest the Group 1 Tattersalls Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm in three weeks time.
Lonhspresso was a devastating final stride victor of the $120,000 Listed The Straight Six (1200m) at Flemington last time-out, and is set to compete in the $100,000 Golden Topaz (1200m) at Swan Hill this Friday before boarding a plane to the Sunshine state.
“Lohnspresso’s going well, she’ll run again next Friday in the Golden Topaz,” Weir said.
“Hopefully she gets through that well. The plan all along has been the Tatt’s Tiara. Obviously with the way she ran last-start she seems to be on track, but we’ll get through Swan Hill and hopefully head on up there.
“The plan was always to get another run in to her before we go, so this run at Swan Hill fits in the program well.”
Weir was happy to remain at home and chase the country riches on offer in Victoria, allowing him to continue to train Lonhspresso from his beachfront base at Warrnambool.
“She’s certainly one that’s got to be trained at the beach,” he said.
“She’s got a few soundness issues so it’d be nice to be up there and run in the Group 2 Dane Ripper Stakes (1400m) a fortnight before, but the training facilities up there are not quite as good as the beach we’ve got here, so we took the option of going to the Topaz and then going up after that.
“The Golden Topaz should have her in spot on order I would have thought.”
– Racing Victoria
