Weld stars homing in on Melbourne Cup target Irishman Dermot Weld is no ordinary racehorse trainer. At 62, the Rosewell House handler can look back at some astounding achievements in winning major races across the globe and could well be expected to rest on his laurels. Not a bit of it though, as the Irish racing legend has set his sights on yet another astounding success in this season’s Melbourne Cup, writes Elliot Slater.
When Weld sent the talented stayer Vintage Crop half-way across the world to Australia to challenge for the 1993 Melbourne Cup, most seasoned observers believed he was off his trolley, despite that fact that he had already showed his tremendous ability at preparing thoroughbred horses for major international races as demonstrated by winning the 1990 Belmont Stakes with Go And Go in the US, and the 1991 Hong Kong mile with Additional Risk.
There were few in Australia who believed it possible for a horse to come all the way from Ireland and be able to adapt to challenge for the toughest race on the calendar, but Vintage Crop, winner of that year’s Irish St Leger, put up one of the great international racing performances to stun the local crowd and grab the ‘race that stops a nation’. As If to prove that success was no fluke, Weld sent Vintage Crop back to Australia on two subsequent occasions where he ran tremendous races under big weight to finish third and seventh.
And then, in 2002, Weld did it again, the ill-fated Media Puzzle flying home under Damien Oliver to once again stun the local racing pundits.
For the 2010 renewal Weld is considering a two-pronged attack with Ascot Gold Cup winner Rite Of Passage (16/1jf) and the ultra-consistent mare Profound Beauty (16/1jf), both being prepared to run for their lives at Flemington in November.
This time it is unlikely that any Melbourne Cup betting pundits in Australia will take the Weld challengers anything other than very seriously.
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