Beach work does the trick in Sandown win

Wednesday 26 August 2015, 5:29pm

Darren Weir has given all the credit to his Warrnambool staff for the victory of Stellar Collision at Sandown.

The three-year-old scored a determined victory in the Winners at #Willhillwolfpack Plate (1200m) on Wednesday to remain unbeaten.

Ridden by Mark Zahra, Stellar Collision ($5.50) claimed a long neck victory over Bon Aurum ($5.50) with Lizard Island ($7) a half-length away third.

Stellar Collision made a winning debut in a Swan Hill maiden last month and Weir was making plans to head to Caulfield for a three-year-old stakes race with the son of Star Witness.

But as he was coming off the track after the victory he was kicked by another runner.

Premier Melbourne trainer Weir decided to send the gelding to the beach surrounds at his Warrnambool operation and into the care of Jarrod McLean who joined his stable at the start of the month.

McLean has been a successful trainer in his own right and Weir said he was lucky to have a horse person the calibre of McLean on his team.

"This horse went down there sore and he's fixed him up," Weir said.

"We were lucky to get him.

"We had two ripper blokes (Daniel Bowman and Mitchell Freedman) beforehand but Jarrod's got a better CV and was the right person to take over the job."

Weir said Stellar Collision had only had one gallop after his Swan Hill success but had done plenty of beach work to maintain his fitness.

Stellar Collision holds a nomination for the Group One Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and the Caulfield Classic (2000m) and Weir says he will take his time determining where the gelding will next start.

"It was a pretty good win under the circumstances," Weir said.

"I think he's a horse that will take a lot of benefit out of today.

"He got to the front and seemed to float a bit, so maybe a set of blinkers will be applied down the track."

Earlier in the day a four-year-old daughter of Redoute's Choice broke through for her first victory at her second race start.

The Hawkes Racing-trained Satya, a $1 million yearling out of Star Satire, took out the Browns Sawdust & Shavings Handicap (1200m).

Ridden by Dwayne Dunn, Satya ($5.50) had to fight hard to defeat Overberg ($9) by a short-head.

Dunn says Satya is a progressive type that will be better off with this preparation under her belt and could develop into a nice horse in the autumn.

– AAP

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