Weaponry - a party pooper?

The Informant reports:

Air Max has been denied a clean sweep of the southern Guineas series, with northern raider Weaponry taking out today's (Saturday) Listed ILT Ascot Park Hotel Southland Guineas in Invercargill.

A half-brother to Boots 'N' All, the Lance Robinson-trained Air Max became a sensation among the South Island's three-year-olds with sparkling performances to win the Listed Gore Guineas and Dunedin Guineas.

He was the $2.70 favourite to complete the treble in today's Southland Guineas - a feat that hasn't been achieved since Fritzy Boy in 2008.

But the Jamie Richards-trained Weaponry had struck bad luck in finishing third and fourth in the Gore Guineas and Dunedin Guineas, and today those roles were reversed.

While Air Max was trapped three-wide in the early stages, Weaponry's rider Dylan Turner took luck out of the equation and surged forward to sit outside the leader Fire Show.

Turner didn't panic when Air Max went past him in search of a more economical run, easing back to sit in third place as the field moved out of the back straight.

Weaponry began to improve down the side and hit the lead before the home turn, then fought off the gallant filly Upscale and edged away in the last 150 metres to win by a length and a half. Air Max stuck on bravely for third, the same margin behind Upscale.

By Declaration Of War out of the Felix The Cat mare Cat Shmea, Weaponry is a half-brother to the Group One winner Velocitea. He was bought for $140,000 as a yearling at Karaka by Te Akau principal David Ellis.

The Southland Guineas was the 50^th black-type win in New Zealand for Richards, who reached that milestone in terms of his overall tally earlier this month - he has also celebrated black-type wins in Australia with the likes of Gingernuts and Melody Belle.

“It was a positive ride by Dylan and a really good win by Weaponry,” Richards said.

“He'd been a little bit unlucky in his two runs down there to date and we didn't want to be unlucky again. In the end he won quite convincingly and was able to put a space in them over the concluding stages.

“He's a horse that's shown ability in the North Island and we thought he was nicely placed down there, so rewarding to gain a black-type win.

“Terry and Debbie Kennedy have done a great job looking after the horse, between his three races, at Wingatui, and Dad (Paul Richards) has put in plenty of travel for a couple of the Guineas races.”

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