Darren Weir’s incredible prizemoney haul as he broke his own records year after year

The success of Darren Weir snowballed year after year but it was the year of his Melbourne Cup triumph when his stable’s fortunes began to explode to unimaginable levels.

Darren Weir with Michelle Payne after Prince Of Penzance’s 2015 Melbourne Cup triumph. Picture: Colleen Petch

Darren Weir didn’t break his own records, he shattered them.

And the burgeoning multimillion-dollar Weir juggernaut was showing no signs of slowing, that was until he was handed a four-year disqualification from racing.

Since the start of the 2010-11 season Weir’s prizemoney earnings snowballed year after year but it was the 2015-16 season — which included his celebrated Melbourne Cup triumph with $101 longshot Prince of Penzance — when his stable’s fortunes exploded.

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Weir’s horses had accumulated an astounding $133 million in prizemoney in the past decade but more than $96,716,160 of that was won in the last 3½ years.

In that Melbourne Cup-winning season of 2015-16, his runners won double the prizemoney ($21,821,030 to $10,911,250) and Group 1s (six to three) from the previous season.

Darren Weir celebrates his Melbourne Cup win in 2015. Picture: Colleen Petch

Prince Of Penzance netted connections $3.8 million with his Cup upset.

He also breezed past 300 winners after falling short of that mark in 2014-15.

Weir became the first to train more than 400 winners in 2016-17, which he achieved again the following year, and continued to chalk up more prizemoney and Group 1 victories than the season before.

With 265 winners and $18 million in prizemoney before his expulsion from the sport, Weir looked on track of surpassing his Commonwealth record of 491 winners and $31 million.

YEAR	WINS	GROUP 1 WINS	PRIZMONEY	CUMULATIVE PRIZEMONEY
2009-2010	144	0	$3,083,886	$3,083,886
2010-2011	136	0	$2,991,861	$6,075,747
2011-2012	174	0	$3,885,018	$9,960,765
2012-2013	183	2	$6,803,422	$16,764,187
2013-2014	253	1	$8,947,852	$25,712,039
2014-2015	298	3	$10,911,250	$36,623,289
2015-2016	347	6	$21,821,030	$58,444,319
2016-2017	449	8	$24,644,270	$83,088,589
2017-2018	491	9	$31,362,370	$114,450,959
2018-2019	265	6	$18,888,490	$133,339,449

SOURCE: Racing and Sports

Originally published as Darren Weir’s incredible prizemoney haul as he broke his own records year after year