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📻 IMPORTANT AUCKLAND UPDATE 📻
Dark Destroyer to launch Queensland attack
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • May 30th, 2025 10:00 am
Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
Dark Destroyer is no stranger to success in Queensland, and he will be looking to replicate his past success when he heads to Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Formerly trained by Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott, Dark Destroyer had a successful three-year-old winter campaign in the sunshine state, winning the Gr.3 Rough Habit Plate (2143m) and finished runner-up in the Gr.2 Queensland Guineas (1600m).
He went on to Group One glory in the Tarzino Trophy (1400m) the following spring, and after a stint with Sydney trainer John O’Shea, he is now in the care of Matamata trainers Darryn and Briar Weatherley.
Following his runner-up effort in the Listed Rotorua Cup (2200m) earlier this month, his ownership group elected to send him to Queensland, with the first assignment of his Australian raid being Saturday’s Gr.3 Queen Elizabeth Cup (2400m).
“We can’t fault him, we just need a bit of luck and hopefully we get a bit of rain, which is forecast, and that will only enhance his chances,” Darryn Weatherley said.
“He had to work a little bit from that wide gate at Rotorua and he almost pulled it off. He has got form in Queensland as a former Rough Habit Plate winner and David Archer (part-owner) was very happy to put him on the plane and accompany Pier over here and have a crack.
“Sam (Weatherley, jockey) worked him on Tuesday morning on the course proper and he got off him and said he couldn’t have worked any better. I am really happy with the way he is, and he is eating well, is bright, and I am looking forward to Saturday.
“We have got Jason Collett (jockey) onboard, he has drawn a nice alley (3), so we will rub the rosary beads and hope for the best.”
Weatherley was given a further boost of confidence following the six-year-old’s appointment with a chiropractor earlier this week.
“I had a chiropractor go over him on Wednesday and he had worked on the horse three years ago and said he is a different horse this time around,” Weatherley said. “He might have had a couple of niggly issues, even though he still had form, but the chiropractor remembered him well.”
Following Saturday, Weatherley said they have a couple of options, depending on the result.
“If he was competitive, you would have to look at something like the Brisbane Cup (Gr.2, 3200m), but there is also the Caloundra Cup (Listed, 2400m) if you wanted to go down that path.”
Meanwhile, Weatherley reported that stablemate Pier is thriving in the warmer climes of Queensland, and he has pulled up well following his third placing in last weekend’s Gr.3 BRC Sprint (1350m) at Doomben.
“He raced last weekend after being here for only about four days and I thought he went huge considering he drew the outside gate,” Weatherley said.
“Now that he has been here for over a week, he is actually a better horse today than leading into last Saturday, he has just settled and he is eating better.
“It is three weeks until the Stradbroke (Gr.1, 1400m), we are not a guaranteed starter yet, but we hope a few do pull out and we get a run. If he happened to get a nice draw, and especially if we get a shower of rain, he will be competitive.”
Pier has been plagued with issues his entire career, and Weatherley said it is rewarding to be competing at the highest level once more with his homebred.
“He has had his issues,” Weatherley said. “Touch wood he has never been so sound in his life, he is very bright, and I believe he has finally grown into himself.
“Even though he achieved what he did winning a Hawke’s Bay Guineas (Gr.2, 1400m) and 2000 Guineas (Gr.1, 1600m), I think he was always a weak boy that needed time.
“When he won the 2000 Guineas, he was 474 kilos and he is now 530 kilos, so he has gone from a schoolboy to a man. We look forward to what lies ahead with him.”
