Ballarat trainer Darren Weir continued his love affair with the Wimmera when he landed a winning double at the Stawell Racing Club meeting at Ararat last Tuesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Weir was impressed with his first starter Ritzy Dane, winner of the Lake Fyans Holiday Park Maiden Plate and immediately declared the five year old son of Danerich has a bright future.
"He had been trialling really well, so I thought he would be hard to beat at his first start," Weir said.
"He's still very big and has a lot of improvement ahead of him, so we're expecting to have a bit of fun with him."
Ritzy Dane made the most of his good start in the 1100 metre sprint, with jockey Brad Rawiller taking his mount to the front turning for home.
The gelding kicked away from his rivals to record an impressive debut win by almost four lengths from stablemate Stylish Miss, with Lets Be Famous third.
Ritzy Dane had been solid in the betting throughout, opening at $2.20 on SuperTab and being backed in to $1.80 at the jump.
Weir said he was looking forward to seeing just how much Ritzy Dane improves, now he has a race under his belt.
"We definitely know he has a future, just how far he goes, we don't know at this stage," he said.
"I'm not planning to take him to Melbourne just yet. I don't really think he's ready for it right now, but he will definitely be tested next preparation.
"He certainly will win a race in Melbourne, we're very confident of that."
Weir and Rawiller completed their winning double when Miss Adelaide outsprinted her rivals to win the Grampians Motel 0-58 Handicap.
Rawiller had been instructed to ride Miss Adelaide on the pace and he carried out the instructions perfectly.
Miss Adelaide jumped away well and shot straight to the front. Rawiller asked the mare to extend turning for home and Miss Adelaide responded, charging home for a comfortable 2.3 length win from Holly Holy.
