Wieland Looking for Strong Carnival Signs from Talented Trio

Cairns trainer Fred Wieland is keen to see his winter prospects take a turn for the better when he saddles up three likely carnival contenders at Cluden Park on Monday.

Wieland was left devastated when his classy sprinter Corbusier suffered a career ending bleeding attack when a brave second at Cluden last Tuesday.

He’s looking to promising stable trio Swatow, Moegreen and Blackthorn – all in Tom Hedley’s orange colours - to raise his spirits and his carnival prospects on Monday’s seven-event card.

“They’re three nice horses and I hope they can keep things going for us. One that I thought would be a good carnival horse, Corbusier, is finished now. That was a tough to take,” Wieland said.

Swatow, who staged memorable battles with the classy Obligated in last season’s Townsville and Cairns Guineas, will tackle the Ladbrokes Open Hcp (1400m) on the minimum with 54kg and with Sean Cormack to ride.

Wieland has decided to test the Dundeel four-year-old in open class for the first time as a step to tougher carnival races after he returned to form with a 1400m BM 65 Hcp win in Cairns on May 29.

“I wanted to get a bit of weight off him and see if he is going to measure up to that standard. This will be his test,” Wieland said.

“He’s taken a couple of runs to come right because he struggled a bit on the wet tracks up here and spent a bit too long in the paddock and got too big and fat.

“I think the horse has got a lot of ability but he’s just taken a little longer to come up.

“At his last start he bounced back to what we thought he could do but he’s got to improve on that again to mix it with the open company horses.

“He and Obligated were racing each other in the guineas races last year. They ran one two in both races, winning one each. Obligated has won three or four opens since so I thought this horse was good enough to be there.

“I think he’ll make his presence felt.”

Wieland has his eyes again fixed on the feature three-year-olds this year with the unbeaten Blackthorn in the Belle Property BM55 Hcp (1400m).

The son of The Autumn Sun won a maiden on debut at Muswellbrook before recording a strong first-up win for Wieland and owner Hedley in a BM60 Hcp at Cluden over 1400m on June 6.

“I think at this stage he’s got the ability to make the grade in the good three-year-old races. He’s an ideal Guineas sort of horse,” Wieland said.

“He was very good to win first-up at 1400m and I thought he could just win on Monday.”

Moegreen, a talented but immature type, will begin his winter campaign in the Mitavite BM55 Hcp (1200m).

The five-year-old has won six of his 17 starts and is first-up after a seven-month break from racing.

Wieland is keen to push the gelding out to a Cup trip but expects he will be in need of the run this week.

“Moegreen is a dumb sort of horse, and he’s still half inclined to do things wrong. He definitely has plenty of ability and I thought this year he could go over longer distances,” he said.

“It’s not an ideal race for him on Monday but there was nothing else around and he had to kick off if we want to get into a cup race or a longer race in the next five or six weeks.

“He’ll will need the run but I’d like to see him run a decent race, get back a bit and do his best work late even though he’ll have to carry 63kg.”

Regular stable rider Sean Cormack will be aboard Swatow and Blackthorn while stable apprentice Lauren Gurnier will ride Moegreen.