DARREN Weir tightened his grip on next month's Warrnambool Cup when his former international galloper Master Zephyr won the $50,000 Terang Cup on Sunday.
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Master Zephyr, aided by a brilliant ride from Dean Yendall, defeated Gold Medals and Mr Journeyman to give Weir consecutive victories in the Terang Cup.
Weir, who had three runners in the feature race on the eight-race program, won last year's cup with Tall Ship, who went on to win the Warrnambool Cup.
The win was a hollow one for Weir, who was not on track as his dad Roy had passed away overnight.
Weir's Warrnambool satellite foreman Jarrod McLean said Master Zephyr was on track for a Warrnambool Cup run.
"We've had Master Zephyr in the Warrnambool stable since he came here from overseas in August last year," McLean said.
"He's thrived on a beach and dune preparation.
“He's won three of his seven runs for us.
“It was always Darren's plan to have Master Zephyr ready for the Warrnambool Cup.
“The stable may have a few runners in the Warrnambool Cup."
Yendall said the four-year-old hit the line hard.
"I had a good run on Master Zephyr," Yendall said.
"I had drawn barrier one, which was an advantage.
“I was travelling well in the run and then got the split from behind Tuscan Fire and the race was over."
The first prizemoney of $27,550 took Master Zephyr's stake earnings to more than $120,000.
He was one of three winners that Weir trained at Terang.
His other winners were Hard Earnt Thirst and Perpetual Crisis.
Yendall took the riding honours with a double. Hard Earnt Thirst was his other winner.
Four races at Terang were won by favourites.
Denpasar dealt punters a savage blow, winning the last leg of the quadrella – a restricted race at odds of 16:1.
Weir was only inches away from winning another group one race on Saturday, when Black Heart Bart finished half-a-neck behind the Gai Waterhouse-trained English in the $600,000 All Aged Stakes at Randwick.
Black Heart Bart was ridden by Melbourne Cup winning jockey Kerrin McEvoy, who said he was the unlucky runner in the race.
"I had to try and manufacture something from the first furlong,” he said.
“The winner had me in a little bit of a pocket had I been able to get going a 100 yards earlier and wind him up he wins the race."
