Bush boy rules racing
horses. I do the worksheets every day.
“I never thought I would get this big. It just happened.’’
Unlike Queensland’s bush equivalent Peter Moody, who swore the racing game would one day burn him out and it eventually did, Weir does not reckon his enthusiasm or energy will ever hit a submerged log.
“I am not as busy as you think because I have great systems in place,” the 47year-old said.
“I won’t burn out because I just love work. I love being busy.
“I have great staff and a lot are my closest mates.’’
His progress is remarkable because it was not as if he was given a flying start by a famous dad in a Tommy SmithGai Waterhouse sort of way.
His journey started when he was a 14-year-old stablehand living in a caravan (“it was great’’).
Trackwork jockey, farrier, horsebreaker, yearling conditioner … he’s done the lot.
Much like Moody, he still worships at the alter of the bush trainers who taught him his craft and spends as much time listening and learning as talking in their company.
“That will never leave me – I love the country,” he said.
“I have never trained in the city and I never will. I hope to train on a farm one day.
“You don’t know it at the time but I had a perfect grounding.
“I have prepared yearlings at a stud. I worked with John Castleman who was great with getting old horses going by patching them up.
“Then it was (Colin Hayes’) Lindsay Park where I learnt how to operate a big stable.
“Then Terry O’Sullivan taught me how to train a winner and actually gave me my racing colours for my 21st birthday.”
Weir’s home track has a massive hill at the end of it and it’s no wonder horses feel as if they are skating downhill when they race on normal tracks.
Though his Group 1 portfolio is expanding at a rapid rate many of his sweetest success have been in the bush.
“My biggest thrill was achieving the four things I really wanted to do in racing,’’ Weir said.
“I wanted a Stawell Cup winner because that was where I started and I really wanted to win the Ballarat Cup because that was where I lived.
“I wanted the Swan Hill Cup because that was where I came from and the Melbourne Cup as well, which I thought would never happen.
“And we’ve done them all. It’s unbelievable how the world turns.’’