Articus on mission to regain old spark at Brisbane winter carnival

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Renew leaves the field behind1:25

Horse Racing: The Darren Weir-trained Renew took centre stage at Warrnambool when he blew away his rivals in the $125,000 Galleywood Hurdle. Renew vindicated his firm favouritism race with an impressive staying and jumping performance in the 3200m race.

• May 3rd 2017
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Morning trackwork at Werribee International Horse Centre ahead of the 2016 Caulfield Cup. Andreas Wohler trained Articus. Picture: Mark Stewart

ARTICUS had a big enough reputation to start $8 on debut in Australia in last year’s Caulfield Cup and while the gloss has gone off in two starts since, connections are maintaining the faith as he plots a Doomben Cup path.

The Darren Weir-trained German import will run in Saturday’s Hollindale Stakes at the Gold Coast, provided a suitable flight can be found. If not, he will run at Flemington and then head north for the Doomben Cup.

“It’s our intention to get him there, but we keep getting shuffled back on the flights. We’re hopeful of getting one Friday morning,” Australian Bloodstock’s Luke Murrell said.

Articus ran 13th in the Caulfield Cup and was turned straight out. First up, he ran 13th at Caulfield again, albeit over an unsuitable 1400m.

German import Articus is yet to show his best since arriving in Australia last spring. Picture: Mark StewartSource:News Corp Australia

“After the Caulfield Cup, we were just gutted,” Murrell said. “We were really confident there, he had worked well, but he just didn’t get around Caulfield.

“That’s the only excuse we could find. Then first-up, he would have probably preferred a wetter track, but we were happy enough with the run.”

Murrell imported Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist, A-grader Lucas Cranach and Sydney Cup placegetter Big Duke to Australia and has always felt Articus had a level of talent capable of winning a big race here.

He said everything this preparation has been geared to the Queensland carnival but after the first-up run, he asked Weir whether he should lower expectations.

“I said if he had any concerns we were happy to go to Adelaide to win a race, and Darren said he didn’t want to dodge anything with this horse,” Murrell said.

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“If you’d seen some of his private jumpouts, you would be pretty happy as an owner. The only proviso is that he has to do it race day. I know it looks __like he’s had two common runs on paper, but he has a lot of ability and I take confidence in what Darren thinks of the horse.”

The Australian Bloodstock colours are likely to be worn by a number of others in the Queensland carnival. One of those could be Plein Ceil, who resumes at Warrnambool on Thursday after winning his first four starts in Australia.

“There’s a couple of options for him,” Murrell said.

Packer Plate winner Mongolian Wolf is headed to the Derby, while underperforming import Singing is on trial for a Queensland trip if he runs well at his next start, likely at Scone.

Originally published as Weir import on Hollindale mission